The Shepherd's Shield
by Private.Legion
Summary: A human soldier uncovers the plot of a rogue Spectre and inadvertently becomes drawn into the center of a galactic cycle of extinction. First of a 3-part series, novelization of ME1-3. I'm modifying canon quite a bit and events will be greatly changed later on. M for future content - probably sex scenes, gratuitous gore. First thing I've written, so criticism welcome.
1. Chapter 1: The Beacon

Lots to say, really. This is a novelization of ME1-ME3 with a separate timeline. I've changed a ton of details about the galaxy that either didn't make sense to me or appeal better to me (i.e. the structure of the Alliance military). The main character, Em, isn't really a paragon/renegade whatever, it's just what makes sense to me. Some dialogue from the game is there if I can remember it, and events unfold generally with the same results as the game, even if the length of the missions or the events within in the missions are changed drastically. I can't really think about much else to add to my notes right now, but I hope you enjoy this narration. It should pick up speed as time goes on; this is the first thing (outside of research essays and the like) that I have written, so it's a learning experience for me.

* * *

_"What about Ferin Shepard? She's been N7 certified."_

_"I don't know...she could be unstable. She saw her whole team die on Akuze."_

_"She's a legend. A survivor."_

_"Is that the kind of person we want defending the galaxy?"_

_"That's the only kind of person who can defend the galaxy. Don't forget what happened during the Skyllian Blitz. Shepard single-handedly held off an entire company of batarians and dragged her entire N7 team to safety. Her actions once she got to her ship held the entire batarian fleet off until reinforcements could arrive."_

_"Not to mention her specialization as a Shadow makes her perfect for the kind of work that they'll have her doing."_

_"Like I said, Shepard's a survivor. She'll do."_

_"...I'll make the call."_

* * *

"Preparing to hit Arcturus Prime relay in 30 seconds."

"Roger, 30 seconds."

Major Ferin Shepard strode towards the helm of the ship. An Alliance Army Special Forces Soldier in the N7 division, she had spent a great deal of time onboard starships, even though the charter of the Army - the land-based branch of the Alliance Military - generally indicated that its warriors would remain on the ground. She was the only Army soldier on the ship, with the majority of the personnel onboard being Marines or Navy crewmen, but was familiar with every person onboard the SSV Normandy, as she'd been assigned to the ship for the last standard solar year.

"Thrusters...check. Internal heat emissions are managed. All systems are green. Drift...just under 1500 K."

"1500 is good. Your captain will be pleased."

The speaker, a turian, sounded strange. The automatic translators implanted in Ferin's brain turned his language into English, but the sounds coming from his throat sounded like several people were speaking in unison, like there was an echo. He turned and walked away, nodding to Shepard as she stepped past him.

"I hate that guy," the pilot said.

"Ease up, Joker. He gave you a compliment, so you hate him?"

"Remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the head, that's good. I just transported this ship halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a doggone pinhead. That's incredible."

Ferin smirked slightly as she arrived behind Joker.

"Need an ego boost, Joker?"

"Just give credit where credit's due. Besides, he's a Spectre. They're bad news."

"Guardians of freedom and the galaxy, you mean."

"Yeah, bad news. What the hell is he doing on our ship?"

Lieutenant Alenko shook his head. "The council funded this mission. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment."

"Yes, that is the official story. But only an idiot believes the official story. They send a Spectre to see if the stealth systems work? Right. I call bullshit."

Ferin shrugged.

"You worry too much, Joker."

"Yeah, well, you tell me why the Alliance wou-"

A screen suddenly opened up on the holographic panels in front of Joker.

"Joker. Status report."

"Just cleared the mass relay, Captain. All systems are a go, stealth systems are engaged.

"Good. Find a comm buoy and get us linked into the Alliance network. I was mission status reports sent to them before we reach Eden Prime."

"Aye aye, sir. Better brace yourself, sir, I think Nihlus is headed your way."

"He's already here, lieutenant. Tell Major Shepard to meet me in the staff room for a briefing.

"Yes, sir." As the transmission cut out, he turned to Ferin, raising an eyebrow. "You get that, ma'am?"

"Yeah, I'm on it. By the way, Captain Anderson sounded pissed. What'd you do?"

"Nothing, he's just always pissed."

Kaidan shook his head. "Just when he's talking to you."

Ferin smiled and turned, shaking her head and walking away. Joker and Kaidan always managed to make her laugh, somehow. It was just the dry wit, she supposed. She passed Navigator Pressly, a seaman with the rank of Lieutenant Commander, O-4. He was the XO of the ship, Captain Anderson's second-in-command, equivalent in rank to Ferin. He greeted her as she walked past. "Major. Hear anything from Captain Anderson about the Turian?"

"No, but I'm on my way to meet with Anderson right now."

"Oh. You might want to check your hair, then."

Ferin ran her hand through her dirty blonde hair. There were always a couple locks that hung down over her right eye, while the main body of her hair normally and thankfully laid flat, reaching down to just about her armpits. Still, the hair that hung over her eye never went away, no matter how much effort she put into taming her hair. She sighed.

"Anderson will just have to deal with my so-called unprofessional haircut."

Pressly smiled. "Maybe put on an actual uniform, for a change, too?"

"You know that Anderson doesn't give a damn about my uniform, and neither does anyone else in the military...except for some POGs and some uptight flag officers," Ferin retorted. Unlike the rest of the crew of the Normandy, Ferin normally walked around casually out of uniform - a black N7 sports bra, a pair of black or dark blue utility trousers, and one of her black N7 hoodies, partially unzipped, was all she normally wore around. On days she felt like being formal, she'd throw a black t-shirt or tank top on under the hoodie.

Pressly shrugged in mock disapproval. "Well, let me know if he wants that turian spaced."

With a laugh, Ferin turned and strode off, reaching the briefing room. There, she saw the turian standing casually before the screens. He smiled and nodded at her as she approached, fixing his glowing green eyes on her. She returned his gaze steadily, allowing her own dark blue eyes to bore mercilessly into him. After a moment, the Spectre spoke.

"Major Shepard. I was hoping you would get here before Captain Anderson. I wanted to speak with you."

"About what, Nihlus?"

"This planet we are going to, Eden Prime. Your people have stories about this planet. They say it is very beautiful."

"Beyond beautiful, I've heard. I've never been there, but I've heard it is a true paradise."

"It has become a symbol of sorts to your people, has it not? But such a place...can be fragile. At risk."

Ferin sharpened her eyes into her patented death-stare, the kind of stare that had unsettled even her drill sergeants, years ago when she was being trained.

"Is that a threat?"

"I'm simply saying that the galaxy can be a dangerous place. More dangerous than humans have yet discovered."

As Ferin was about to retort, Captain Anderson strode through the door. She snapped to attention as the burly man walked in.

"As you were, Shepard. I think it's time to tell you about what we're doing. This isn't a simple shakedown run."

"That much was already obvious, sir."

"Always the smart one, eh, Shepard? We're here to retrieve a device from the colony. It's Prothean."

"You mean like the Mars Archives?"

"Exactly. Shepard, this could be big. The last time we made a find like this, our technology jumped forward two hundred years."

"So, what do you want me to do, Captain?"

"You're going to take a couple crew members down and secure that device."

"Roger, sir."

"There's more. Nihlus here will be accompanying - and watching - you."

"What's going on, sir?"

Nihlus spoke. "You're being evaluated for potential induction into the Spectres."

"This is important, Shepard. A human Spectre would increase our standing among the galactic community enormously. It would even strengthen our petitions for a seat on the Council."

"I understand, si-"

Joker's voice suddenly came over the intercom.

"Sir, we're receiving an emergency broadcast from Eden Prime."

"Patch it through, Joker."

A panicked voice suddenly filled the room as a soldier's face appeared on the screen. The background was orange and red, with the sounds of battle and anguished screams clearly audible. "-ing overrun! We request immediate assistance from any Alliance forces nearby! We can't hold them back, the colony is overrun!"

Suddenly, a globe of plasma smashed into the side of the marine's head. His head snapped sideways, his helmet instantly melting into his skull and the sizzling of his flesh audible over the transmission, even over the gunfire in the background. His mouth opened almost in a scream, then he fell backwards. The camera tumbled to the ground, landing with the lens facing skywards, where a gigantic dreadnought could be seen descending before the image cut out.

"Shepard, get Alenko and Jenkins and get your gear together!" Anderson turned to see Ferin already moving to the door. She looked back and nodded at him as she continued moving, running to the elevator and punching in the armory deck. Ferin raised her wrist and punched several buttons on the holographic display that came up. She spoke into her wrist, quickly.

"Lieutenant Alenko. Corporal Jenkins. Get to the armory and get kitted out, now!"

She didn't hear the acknowledgements, shutting off the communicator and jogging into the armory to grab her equipment. The standard N7 armor was manufactured by Hahne-Kedar, a light, durable armor interwoven with electronic sensors and designed out of ferrofluids, ceramic plates, ultra-strong titanium alloys, and synthetic leathers. The resultant armor was tightly form-fitting, yet flexible, and provided some of the best protection in the galaxy against shrapnel and lower-velocity debris. Additionally, the armor was designed with virtual intelligences built in that stabilized and optimized weapons systems for maximum effect. Against mass-accelerated rounds, it would be shredded like wet tissues, but that was what kinetic shielding was for. Each branch had its own standard issue - N7 Destroyers tended to have extremely heavy armor manufactured from Aldrin labs, while N7 Shadows were issued Hahne-Kedar light armor, and so forth. As an N7 Shadow, Ferin had been issued a jet black, lightweight set of armor compromised mostly out of flexible, synthetic fibers, little more than durable cloth for the base layer. A heavy, flat ceramic plate covered her chest with an N7 logo emblazoned on the right side, with another pair of ceramic plates resting on her forearms, and on her thighs. There were thickened fibers over her knees and elbows to act as kneepads and elbow pads, and heavy metal shoulder plates to protect her neck and shoulders from oncoming fire. The Systems Alliance flag rested on her back and on the left side of her chest plate, a royal blue flag with the Alliance's golden shuttle and three stars centered on it. A blood-red stripe bordered with small white stripes ran down the center of the right arm from wrist to neck, the only part of her armor that wasn't a shade of black, aside from the Alliance flag and the N7 logo on her chest.

After tossing her armor on, Ferin grabbed her weapons, an N7 M4 "Valkyrie" assault rifle, an N7 M92N "Valiant" sniper rifle, an N7 M5N "Legion" pistol, and an N7 mono-molecular edged longsword. Again standard-issue, the weapons had been uniquely customized to be extremely flexible. The assault rifle had a SMRCO sight mounted - Short/Medium Range Combat Optic - which allowed switching from a standard non-magnified chevron sight to a 2.5x or 4x magnified chevron sight, switching from thermal to night to daylight optics, dark green, light green, dark red, and light red chevrons for varying light conditions, all at the touch of a button, in addition to an automatic heat warning when the weapon was approaching critical heat levels. Almost every detachable part of the weapon had been swapped for parts Ferin felt were more useful. A shortened barrel increased flexibility and ease of usage, a kinetic stabilizer and recoil damper reduced recoil, while capacitors aided in the mass acceleration of the weapon, increasing muzzle velocity and ability to penetrate cover. A combat scanner rested on the right rail, allowing for detection of enemy targets through cover, and she had modified the chipping system to chip tungsten into shaped, armor-piercing rounds that did lethal damage to both organics and synthetics. Each round fired was a 5.56x45mm round, but at a velocity of around 1.7 km/s, and with a maximum effective range of around 2 kilometers. The entire weapon was manufactured out of frictionless materials, including the barrel, which was custom designed with rifling that provided the round with accuracy at long ranges without friction wearing on the weapon. The weapon could be cycled between semiautomatic, burst, and safe, allowing for flexibility between close and long range engagements. The weapon itself bore a heavy resemblance to the old carbines that had been the staple of the U.S. military from the 1960s until about 2080. The weapon even had a magazine, like the old models, though it served only as a foregrip. Someone had been really nostalgic when they had designed the new M4 off of the M-8 Avenger design, but it was one of the most solid weapons she'd ever used, able to fire around 30 rounds per thermal clip, accurate, and deadly.

The sniper rifle was similarly modified, with kinetic stabilizers, recoil dampers, and capacitors, but had been modified with an extended, high-caliber barrel, and a heat sink. The ammunition block was a super-high density mixture of tungsten and depleted uranium. The weapons system fired five rounds per thermal clip, firing .338 caliber rounds accelerated to 3.7 km/s. Though it was not as lethal as some of the weapons that were available to the Alliance, such as the M-92 Mantis (which it was based off of), it could fire multiple rounds at a fairly rapid pace, and headshots were devastating, regardless of whether the target had shielding, biotic barriers, armor, or all three of the above. Coupled with an easy reload system and its effectiveness between ranges from as close as 200 meters away to as far as 6 kilometers away, it became a staple of her arsenal. It was the weapon that Ferin had trained on the most at N-School, and was the weapon she was most comfortable with.

The pistol, by comparison was far less fancy, relying solely on frictionless materials, a heat sink, and a modified action that allowed it to be fired as fast as the trigger was pulled. The rounds fired were basic anti-personnel rounds, designed to fragment and tumble upon impact to maximize injury, but the pistol had few bells and whistles - it was a reliable sidearm that she carried with her wherever she went. It was based off of the M-5 Phalanx's design with only a few changes, most importantly the modified action - the Phalanx, a deadly hand cannon, fired slowly but accurately. The new Legion, named because it was as much of an improvement over the Phalanx as the Roman Legion had been over the Greek Phalanx - fired rapidly, retained the massive damage each round could do, but sacrificed some accuracy that it more than made up for in capacity. The Phalanx only fired 5 rounds per thermal clip, but the Legion's modified action made it necessary to rework the heat sinks and resulted in an 18-round clip.

As for her sword, it was a masterpiece of craftsmanship, as were all swords crafted for N7 members. Each one was forged according to the individual Shadow's specifications; Ferin's had a 3 foot long blade, curving into a point, with a hand-and-a-half hilt and no cross-guard. The slashing edge was mono-molecular, held rigidly in its position by manipulation of magnetic fields and nuclear strong forces to prevent it from losing its edge. Her blade was specifically made for slashing, but the blade was strong enough for thrusting, and was absolutely lethal in close quarters.

Once she was geared up, she jogged to the exterior airlock of the Normandy. Captain Anderson and Nihlus were already there, Nihlus with weapon in hand, in the same red and black turian armor he had been wearing since he had boarded. She glanced at him questioningly.

"You're coming with us?" she shouted over the wind.

"Negative. I move faster on my own," he responded, "but I'll be providing intel and scouting out ahead of your team."

"Approaching DZ 1!" As soon as they heard Joker's voice, Nihlus nodded at her and rolled out of the open airlock door, disappearing into the dust below. As the Normandy began moving again, Captain Anderson placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Major, let me be clear. Your priority is the beacon; help civilians if you can, but you cannot divert from your objective."

"Roger that, sir. Lieutenant Alenko! Corporal Jenkins!"

The two Marines glanced at her. They had suited up in the basic Marines kit - a set of navy blue Aldrin Labs armor, M-8R2 "Avenger" assault rifles, and M-5 Phalanx pistols. Kaidan was also carrying an M-4 "Shuriken" SMG, while Jenkins was carrying an M-23 "Katana" shotgun.

"Yes ma'am?"

"We're dropping. Sweep and clear, watch your fires and make sure you don't hit any civilians."

"Oorah, ma'am. Let's fuckin' rock and roll!" Jenkins blurted out excitedly. Ferin glanced at Kaidan, shaking her head.

Turning to the Captain, she saluted. "I'll see you on the other side, sir," she said, before rolling out the door, followed quickly by Kaidan and Jenkins.

"Drop complete. Returning to orbit."

Ferin raised her hand to shield her eyes from the mist rising from the departing spacecraft as she pulled her M4 off her back. She was standing up to her knees in a muggy swamp. _Great,_ she thought. _Eden Prime's the most beautiful planet settled by humanity, and we get dropped in a fucking swamp._

"Perimeter clear, ma'am."

"Alright, let's move. Watch spacing. We're three klicks out from the colony, azimuth 3-4-9 degrees magnetic. Jenkins, you're on point."

"Roger, ma'am."

The bulky corporal jogged forward steadily, his assault rifle held at the low ready as he moved through vegetation and rocks. The increased speeds of projectiles and therefore range in the age of element zero meant that infantrymen had to be careful to conceal themselves as best as they could or risk being hit by snipers from extreme long range. Assault rifles were still generally not capable of inflicting lethal wounds unless their target was within a kilometer or lacked kinetic shielding, due to the low mass of the rounds when they impacted after having much mass shorn off by the atmosphere and the already small rounds fired. Sniper rifles, however, when properly deployed, were lethal threats from immense ranges. Ferin followed a few meters behind the corporal, with Kaidan watching their rear as they moved in a small column towards the colony. Still, even at the rapid pace they were moving at, it was almost half an hour before they arrived at the outskirts of the colony. Smoke was rising into an ominously red sky, but there was very little sound coming from the colony; just a few gunshots from time to time. Ferin looked around uneasily, then started slightly as a turian's voice came into her earpiece. _I wonder why the sky's red_, she thought to herself as she looked up. Clouds were swirling in a strange spiral pattern around a gigantic ship parked in the center of the colony.

"Major Shepard, this is Nihlus. I've got a lot of dead civilians here, and a small group of buildings. I'm checking it out. Radio silent, over."

"Roger, Nihlus. Out."

Jenkins spoke up.

"Shit...Eden Prime got torn up real bad. I hope my dad's alright."

"It'll be alright, corporal. We can make sure the colonists are alright after we've secured the beacon."

"Yes ma'a-"

"What the fuck is that?" Kaidan raised his weapon, pointing it at a strange creature that looked like an engorged balloon.

"It's just a gas bag. Don't worry, they're harmless."

"If you say so..."

"Just keep moving, soldiers."

"Hey, ma'am, we're fuckin' Marines."

"Lock it up, Jenkins. We're going into combat."

"You get too seri-"

As Jenkins was speaking, several bolts of plasma suddenly flew past him. He swore, dropping to a knee as he raised his assault rifle and began triggering off rounds.

"Contact! Twelve o'clock, enemy drones!"

Ferin dove to the side, rolling as she hit the ground and coming up with her back against a boulder, facing Kaidan as he stumbled sideways, landing on his shoulder and crawling a few meters behind a log. She took a breath and leaned out, firing off three rounds, as the familiar adrenaline of combat flooded her veins.

"Jenkins! Get to cover!"

The inexperienced corporal rose, turning to the side, when a new volley of fire came at him. Ferin saw his shields flare bright blue, then shatter. He stumbled as he ran, then fell as a jet of plasma burned through his side, a second striking his knee and a third hitting his chest as he fell. They melted through the Marine's body armor like it was nothing, leaving him lying unconscious on his side.

"Man down!"

Ferin swore as she fired another six rounds, then ducked back behind cover as enemy plasma bolts shot towards her. She saw Kaidan's hand flare purple momentarily as he raised his left hand in a twisting motion, then clenched his hand into a tight fist. She ducked back out in time to see one of the drones rip itself apart. She raised her rifle and fired around three rounds, aiming carefully at the rightmost drone. The three shards of metal smashed into the unshielded drone and punched holes through its chassis, dropping it to the ground. As she readjusted her aim, Kaidan fired a round from his pistol, dropping the final drone. Ferin sprinted forward, sliding to cover behind a second rock as Kaidan rushed up to Jenkins.

"Jenkins! Stay with us!"

Ferin ejected the thermal clip from her weapon and slammed a new one in, rocking the bolt back and securing the new clip as she peeked out. She turned to see Kaidan shaking his head.

"Tore right through his shields. He never stood a chance."

"We'll mourn later, LT. Right now, we have to go."

"...Aye-aye, ma'am."

Shaking his head, Kaidan pulled one of the two dog tags around Jenkins' neck off, tucking it into his trouser pocket, and unslinging his assault rifle.

"I'll take point, ma'am?"

"Negative. I'll lead." Ferin cocked her head as she heard gunfire. _Another firefight..._she turned and looked at Kaidan. "Whoever that is, they'll need assistance. Let's move, Kaidan!"

The two operatives jogged off, their boots splashing in the mud as they moved quickly and quietly towards the engagement. As they ran, they saw three Alliance soldiers running towards them, firing their weapons behind them wildly. One soldier grunted as a bolt of plasma lanced through his chest, knocking him to his knees, a hole two inches across burned through the center of his chest. A female swore, skidding to a halt and turning around.

"Fuck! Prentiss, cover me!"

She turned, ducking low and ran to the casualty as the other soldier triggered off a long burst of automatic fire from his rifle. The female stumbled as a blast of plasma deflected off of her shields by her ankle, then grabbed the fallen soldier, dragging him behind cover.

"Reloading!"

"Got you covered!"

The female leaned out and fired off three rounds. As she returned her back to the rock she was hiding behind, she saw the two operators running towards her and waved her arm at them.

"Over here! We need support!"

"I'm hit! Williams!"

The female swore again, then leaned out and fired off another burst.

"On my way! Let me just grab Nietrom!" She grabbed the fallen soldier beside her and began running back towards Prentiss, dragging the soldier slowly by the drag handle on his armor as she rushed the 50 meters back towards her comrade.

"Give her cover!"

Ferin dropped to a knee, sliding several meters, as she raised her rifle and sighted through the chevron, firing several rounds in the direction the two soldiers had been firing at. With no targets though, the suppressive fire was only so effective, and several rounds fired by the geth hit the running soldier, including one that tore through the drag handle. Though all the blasts were deflected by her shields, her hand came off of the dead soldier. She swore, starting to skid to a halt and turn, when Ferin yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Get your ass to cover, soldier!"

Williams shook her head and sprinted the last thirty meters to cover, tossing herself sideways as soon as she reached the rock behind which Prentiss was lying.

"Take out the geth! I need to treat Prentiss!"

"Affirmative!" Ferin scanned the field and signaled for Kaidan to pin the enemy down as she sprinted to the right, trying to get into a flanking position. She raised her left arm, activating her omni-tool as she spun a tactical cloak around her, fading into invisibility as she continued to sprint. The adrenaline was rushing unchecked through Ferin's blood as she started sprinting up a hill, throwing herself into the prone as she began to reach the crest and crawling the remaining few meters to the top. From there, she had an unrestricted view of a squad size element of geth moving forward, twelve troopers covering each other as they bounded forward. She took a calming breath, trying to get her breathing under control as she rested her cheek against the cool stock of her Valkyrie, sighting carefully at the one who she guessed to be their squad leader. Then they did something so startling she stopped, as they reached the corpse of the soldier, Nietrom. While covering each other, one trooper rushed out and grabbed his body, dragging it back to their lines. He pulled what appeared to be a silver platform out of his pack and placed it on the ground, extending three legs like a tripod, before placing the corpse on top of it. As Ferin narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out what the hell the geth was doing, a spike shot out of the platform, impaling the corpse and lifting it ten meters into the air. A gasp escaped Ferin's mouth.

_What the fuck?_ She shook her head in shock. _I'll get you fuckers back for that_. She resighted, placing the glowing red chevron on the back of the closest geth. She exhaled, then fired four rounds, shattering the geth's shielding. As it stumbled forward, trying to catch its balance, another two rounds punched into its back, knocking it onto its chest as a silver, viscous fluid sprayed from the quarter-sized holes. As the synthetic attempted to rise, another four rounds tore into it and it stopped moving. The other geth rushed to cover, hiding themselves from Shepard, but putting them in a lethal crossfire with Kaidan and the female soldier, who had set up her M-76K Revenant, a light machine gun, with a bipod to cover the narrow pass. Kaidan was firing three to five round bursts from his automatic Avenger, while the 290K was spitting seven to twelve round bursts at the geth. Geth who attempted to seek cover from the lethal fire found themselves exposed to Ferin, who, at a range of only 300 meters, had almost perfect accuracy with her Valkyrie. Within half a minute, the entire squad was wiped out. After a few moments to confirm all the geth were dead, Ferin rose from her position and circled back around, reloading her Valkyrie as she arrived back at Kaidan and the other soldier's positions. As she arrived, the female soldier saluted.

"Staff Sergeant Ashley Williams, Alliance Army, ma'am!"

Ferin returned the salute quickly, examining the young woman closely. She had to be no older than 24 or 25, a few years younger than Ferin. Still, at the rank of staff sergeant, she had been promoted fast; she was either highly squared away or well-connected. Up close, Ferin could see the NCO stood almost a foot taller than her; at least 6', at most 6'3". Her appearance was almost the opposite of the Special Forces officer; she had a powerful build, with broad shoulders, clearly strong and athletic.

"Major Ferin Shepard. What's the situation, sergeant?"

"It's a mess, ma'am. Didn't see the geth coming until they were only a hundred klicks from the planet, and by that point it was too late. I was on patrol around the perimeter when the attack came. We tried to get off a distress call, but they cut our comms. Been fighting for my life ever since."

"What's your unit? Where are they?"

"Company C, 1st Battalion, 212th Infantry Regiment. We were ordered to hold the center of the colony, but we were forced to fall back. I'm the last survivor from my company."

"How many other units on the planet?"

"Command only put 1st Battalion on the planet. Alpha Company and Bravo Company were holding the flanks, but I don't know their statuses now. The last transmissions Captain Kealey got from them were panicked shouting. As for Delta Company...last I heard they were bunkering down in the barracks and getting ready to defend the base."

Kaidan interjected. "Sergeant Williams, do you know where the Prothean artifact is?"

"The old thing the scientists dug up? Yeah, the dig site's just out of town, sir."

"Can you still fight, Williams?"

"Hell yeah, ma'am. Time for some payback."

"Hooah. Let's move out. Williams, take us to the dig site."

The soldier nodded, standing up and brushing the dust off of her red and white armor. She popped her expended four thermal clips out of the weapon and slid in another speed-loader of four, then started trotting in the direction she had originally been running from. Ferin looked around her one last time, then followed, reloading her Valkyrie as she did so. Kaidan followed soon behind her as the three quietly began moving towards the heart of the settlement.

"How many enemy, Williams?"

"Not sure, ma'am. We were overrun by a company minus."

"Only two platoons?"

"Yes ma'am. Each platoon was led by two...really big geth. They were like heavy mechs, I guess, they had rockets and heavy machine guns, but they took cover and fought like real soldiers. Heavy armor, too, we couldn't scratch them or even shatter their shields. We tried to get the .50s on them, but they punched through too fast."

"So we're looking at a battalion sized force on the planet?"

"Yes ma'am. I'm surprised you only came down with the LT."

"Another Marine came down with us, but he was KIA. There's also a Spectre with us."

"A Spectre? Here?"

"Yeah. He's out scouting ahead of us. Speaking of which...Nihlus, come in."

"Yes, Major?"

"What've you got going on your end?"

"Just a lot of bodies. Had to put down some geth. This colony was hit pretty hard."

"Any sign of the beacon?"

"Negative. Keep your eyes peeled. I'll call back in a minute, I think I've reached the center of the colony."

"Affirmative. Shepard out."

Ashley spoke up. "Major, we're at the dig site."

"Where's the beacon?"

"I don't know. The researchers must have moved it, ma'am."

"Or the geth took it. Shepard, maybe Nihlus has eyes on?"

"Look around. See if you can find something that'll tell us what's going on. I'll try to raise Nihlus."

As the two warriors scoured the dig site, keeping their weapons pointed outwards to maintain security, Ferin called Nihlus.

"Nihlus, this is Shepard. Come in."

No response came from the other end.

"Nihlus, Shepard. Acknowledge...Nihlus?"

Kaidan threw a questioning glance at her.

"He isn't responding. We'd better check on him."

Ashley interjected, "The center of the settlement is up there," pointing towards the top of the hill they were standing beneath. "We lost a lot of good soldiers up there."

"We'll avenge them. But I need you to focus, sergeant."

"I...aye aye, ma'am." Ashley shook her head and raised her Revenant to the low ready. "Still got plenty of thermal clips and lots of those geth bastards to kill."

"That's the spirit, Williams. Let's get moving."

In a line, the three began slowly trudging up the hill, their senses hyper-alert.

"This is wrong. Where are all the geth? There were dozens of them less than twenty minutes ago. I smell an ambush."

"Or they've already completed their objective," Kaidan suggested.

"We keep going until we find evidence that the beacon's gone. But keep your -"

Ferin suddenly threw up a fist. Ashley and Kaidan froze as she panned her rifle to a building to the right.

"I saw movement in the window. Stack up."

The three quickly moved to the door, forming up in a line by the door. Ferin dialed up her omnipad, quickly aligning the pins on the door's security chip. Once the door unlocked, she tapped Kaidan's shoulder. He quickly nodded at Ashley, who tapped the door and charged inside, followed closely by Kaidan and then Shepard.

"Don't shoot, please!" What looked like a scientist and a lab tech were huddled on the ground, raising their hands.

"Who are you?"

"I-I'm Doctor Warren. This is Doctor Manuel."

The man who she had introduced was rocking back and forth muttering about the end of times.

"What's his deal?"

"He's j-just a little shaken up from the attack. We all are. Who are you?"

"My name's Major Shepard, I'm with the Alliance Army."

"Wait, are you - I've heard of you. You were awarded the Star of Terra after the Skyllian Blitz, weren't you?"

"Yeah. We're here to recover a Prothean artifact that was dug up here. It's not at the dig site anymore, though. Do you know anything about it?"

"Yes, we moved it to the other side of the colony at the spaceport to prepare it for transit back to the Citadel. I think...I think that's what the geth were after."

"Thanks, doc. Stay here and keep your heads down."

"We will, Major."

Ferin stepped back outside, rejoining Kaidan and Ashley. They glanced at her.

"You hear what she said?"

Ashley nodded. "Spaceport's on the other side of the colony, ma'am. I can take you there, we'll need to take a shuttle though."

"Alright. Let's see if we can raise Nihlus real quick...Nihlus, come in. This is Shepard."

Again, there was no response.

"Nihlus? Fuck. We need to find him before we head out, he said he was around here."

"Affirmative, ma'am. Let's go."

The three warriors spread out, looking around the ruined colony for the turian. _Fuck, I hope he didn't get himself killed_, Ferin thought as she looked around. The colony had been hit by a lot of geth, and a few hundred to one was long odds, even for a Council Spectre. Sudden movement caught her eye. _Holy shit_! Her eyes opened wide as she shouted to the others.

"The people on the spikes! They're...they're still alive!"

Both of them turned as she turned back, looking at the gigantic spike. It was retracting, but the person writhing on it was wrong. His...or her...clothes were gone, and it looked like the person's body had been almost mummified, down to dried skin and bone. Blue lights were running along the length of his body...his eye sockets were glowing bright blue, as was his mouth cavity, but the head looked like nothing but a skull. Ferin instinctively raised her rifle, before shaking her head. _He's a colonist...or she...or...whatever, they need help._ She cautiously stepped forward.

"Sir, I'm here to help."

His head snapped around towards her with inhuman speed. She jumped back, raising her rifle. A howl burst from the colonist's throat and he charged.

"Halt!"

The word had barely left her throat when the thing was on her. She smashed it back with the butt of her rifle, throwing it back with a strength that was disproportionate to the small soldier. It landed on its back a meter back, and she leveled her rifle.

"Don't move!"

The colonist ignored her instructions, leaping upright and charging again. She got off three rounds before it was on her. The colonist had shields, she noted with surprise, as all three rounds were flattened against a kinetic shield, before she bent down and heaved the colonist over her 5'3" frame, flipping it over her. The next thing she noted was that the colonist did not weigh nearly as much as he should have - he was a good 5'7", but he couldn't have been more than a hundred pounds, less if you took into account the higher gravity of Eden Prime. Ferin ignored the confusion, as she raised her rifle and fired another eight rounds at the colonist. The first two were deflected by its kinetic shield, but the remaining six punched into its face, leaving chunks of bone and..._metal? _Ferin crouched down beside the corpse, confirming it. There were scraps of bone and brain matter and pieces of scrap metal splattered on the ground, but no blood at all. Whatever the colonist was before, he wasn't human anymore. As she turned over a piece of metal in her hand, Kaidan and Ashley ran up to her.

"Major! Are you...what the hell is that?"

"These spikes...they're not using them to kill the colonists. They're turning them into these...things."

"It looks like...I don't know what that is. It's just a husk of a human."

Kaidan shook his head. "Strange. Turning our own against us. We'd better be careful, Shepard."

She nodded at the lieutenant. "Move out, we need to find Nihlus."

"Roger, ma'am."

The soldiers quickly continued moving towards the center of the colony, encountering several other human husks, which they promptly dispatched with their rifles. All were on edge - the things looked almost exactly like human skeletons, or zombies, or something, and brought to mind too many old vids of zombie apocalypses. Even these days, some Hollywood companies would come out with a zombie movie once in a while. As they pressed on, Kaidan suddenly gasped as they saw the dreadnought that Ferin had seen on the emergency transmission from the officer, on board the Normandy. "What _is_ that?"

"It's a ship! Look at the size of it!" Ashley stared in shock. The massive ship was at least two kilometers long, shaped like a squid or something, parked in the middle of the colony. As they watched, it ascended, red energy blazing around it as it disappeared into the sky. "Holy shit."

Ferin shook her head. "Focus, we need to find Nihlus. Spread out and search the docks."

"Wait, Major, is this him?"

"Oh, _fuck_."

Ferin walked over to the body, crouching down beside it and examining it. There was a single bullet wound at the base of the turian's skull, with no exit wound. It looked like a round had been fired upwards at close quarters, within a few feet, into the turian's head. _An execution,_ Ferin mused. She suddenly stiffened as the sound of a footstep came from behind her team, and the three warriors spun, raising their weapons. A frightened colonist stood there, falling backwards as he saw the three assault rifles aimed at him.

"No, don't shoot! I'm just a dock worker!"

Ferin frowned, lowering her M4. "How'd you survive the attack? You're the first survivor we've run into who wasn't in a locked building."

He looked around uneasily, refusing to meet her gaze as he stammered. "I-I was hiding behind the cr-crates when the attack came."

Kaidan looked at him skeptically. "Really? Why didn't anyone else have the idea of hiding behind the crates?"

"Well, th-they were...the attack came too fast. I was the only one who made it."

His look of skepticism turned into a deep frown as he regarded the rotund farmer. Ferin stepped forward, shaking her head.

"You were the fastest one." She uttered the sentence calmly, with no inflection.

"Okay, look, I was already behind them. Sometimes...sometimes I get tired and I need to catch 40 winks to make it through my shift. So I have to find somewhere where the supervisor won't find me."

Ashley scoffed. "You piece of...you survived because you were lazy?"

"I'm sorry!"

Shepard shook her head. "You're a lucky man."

"Look, I...I saw what happened to your turian friend there."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. He met another turian here. I-I think they knew each other. He seemed to relax, let down his guard. When he turned his back, the other turian shot him in the back of the head. He almost saw me! I was lucky that he didn't."

"Hmm. Did you get any names?"

"Umm...yeah, I think your friend called him Saren."

_Good to know._ Ferin frowned. The name sounded familiar for some reason. A bad feeling. She couldn't place it, though. She returned her attention to the man. "What's your name?"

"It's...it's Powell."

"Okay. What direction did the other turian go? And do you know anything about the Prothean artifact?"

"I...no, the...the artifact, that's why those scientists were so excited, right? They moved it over to the other side of the space port. I think that's where the turian was headed too."

Ashley nodded. "I know where that is, Major."

Ferin nodded at her. "Before we go, Powell, do you know anything else that could help us? Anything at all?"

He paused, looking around guiltily, before responding. "N-no."

"Really? You seem like you're uncomfortable about something."

"Yes, I'm uncomfortable," he burst out. "I'm in the middle of a goddamn war zone and a fucking Alliance soldier who's supposed to be protecting me is interrogating me like I'm a criminal! I'm not a criminal! I'm a citizen of the United States! My parents were born in Quebec! And you're treating me like a common smuggler or something! I've never done anything wrong!"

Ashley looked at him curiously. "We never asked you if you'd done anything wrong. Aside from the being lazy thing. We just asked for information on the enemy."

Ferin nodded. "Seems like you have a guilty conscience. If there is something you should tell us, you probably should, as we're trying to protect you."

Powell squirmed some more. Finally, he nodded. "Okay, look. I was running a...I was skimming a little off of the incoming packages. Me and a few others were making some extra money by selling some of the goods. We'd take pistols, crates of grenades, and hide them in the farmer's sheds and sell them on the black market. No one ever noticed if the military orders were missing some stuff."

Ashley's expression darkened as he explained his crimes. As he concluded, she lashed out, slapping him and knocking him to the ground.

"You greedy piece of shit! We're out here, busting our asses, trying to protect you, and you steal the equipment we use to defend you? All you can think about is how you can rip us off?"

Ferin grabbed and pulled the furious sergeant back. "Sergeant Williams! Williams! Stand down!"

Ashley continued to struggle for a moment, then stopped fighting, taking several deep breaths. The bruised smuggler, from the ground, cried out.

"I didn't think you would ever need to use them!"

Ferin shot him one of her death glares. "And that excuses it?"

"Look, I'll give it all to you! Here. Here's some grenades, here's a shotgun."

Ferin shook her head. "You want forgiveness, you find ways to give back to the Alliance military. A lot of Soldiers died here today. That equipment you stole from them could have saved some of their lives."

He hung his head. "I'm sorry. Here...here. I was saving this for later. Experimental technology. Could be worth a fortune. An implant."

Ferin took the chip, examining it. It was a Mk4 Impulse Accelerator. Advanced stuff for front-line units, but the Special Forces operator had Mk 6 prototype technology. The smuggler didn't know what he was talking about, with experimental technology. Ferin's implants could do twice what the Mk4s could do, enhancing strength, speed, stamina, and agility beyond that of what her gene therapy had done, in addition to regulating adrenaline and hormones to control stress reactions and time dilation in combat. The hormone regulators allowed a soldier to experience time dilation every time they entered combat, as opposed to the old levels of only 50-60% of soldiers experiencing time dilation in combat back in the 21st century. They also had the benefit of regulating menstrual cycles for female service members, and generally stabilizing moods. Ferin shrugged and tossed it to Ashley to hold onto.

"Stay here. And maybe think of a way to atone for the deaths of all those people you killed."

Ashley spat on the ground as she turned away.

"This way, ma'am."

Once they were out of earshot of the smuggler, Ferin put her hand on Ashley's shoulder.

"Hey...hey, Williams. You alright?"

She shrugged. "That greedy son-of-a-bitch stabbed us all in the back. Maybe Nietrom, Prentiss, the rest of my company...maybe they'd still be alive if he hadn't stolen our gear. Maybe, probably not, but there was that chance and he stole it from us."

"I know. Trust me, we'll make sure he pays. He'll be in prison for a long time. But I need you focused on the mission, Sergeant."

"I am focused, ma'am. We're wasting time. The other turian might already be at the beacon. We need to take a tram to get there, it's down this way."

"Roger that, Williams. Lead the way."

Williams raised her rifle and moved off towards the docks, followed closely by Ferin and Kaidan. They froze as Williams tossed her left hand up, clenched into a fist, and dropped flat to the ground. Ferin crawled up to Ashley's position.

"Sergeant?"

"The docks are a chokepoint, ma'am. Lots of geth, plenty of cover, but they're literally just straight lines. It'll be hard to advance and it'll be hard to hit targets. It's literally 500 meters straight, then a turn, a short 50 meter walkway, and another 500 meters to the ferry."

"Great. Stay here with Kaid-the lieutenant, Sergeant."

"Roger, ma'am."

Ferin crept forward, activating her tactical cloak and disappearing from view. She quietly slung her assault rifle and advanced at a quick crouch-run until she reached the dock. She unslung her Valiant and gently deployed its bipod, resting it on a crate and pressing her cheek to the weapon's stock, her nose against the charging handle. Through the scope, she counted two squads of geth on that section of the docks. _Must be at least a platoon sitting around here_, she mused. _Looks like they've got commanders too...some of them are twice the size of the others._ She activated her omni-tool.

"Kaidan, come in."

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I've got a platoon-size element of geth. We can't go around them, we're going to have to go through."

"...roger, ma'am. You serious?"

"Yeah. There's a few of them that are a lot bigger than the others. Can you hit them with your biotics?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Okay. I'm going to open fire from the end of the docks with my Valiant."

"Aren't we a little close for your sniper rifle?"

"Negative. I can comfortably use it at five zero zero, and we'll need the high caliber against those big geth."

"Geth primes, and geth destroyers, ma'am."

"How do you know what they're called, LT?"

"I was Naval Intelligence before I went infantry, ma'am."

"Alright. Well, I'll hit the prime, you overload the destroyers, Williams sprays suppressive, and I'll advance as close as I can and start picking them off with my Valkyrie. You and Williams stay on overwatch."

"Roger, ma'am. Good luck."

Ferin placed her assault rifle on the crate within reach of her, then returned her eye to the scope, exhaling as she began aiming the heavy anti-material rifle. She rested the crosshairs squarely on the geth prime's chest, breathing steadily as she tracked its movements. After an exhalation, she gently began squeezing the trigger, pulling it back steadily until suddenly a round exploded from the weapon with a thunderous retort. She winced as the weapon kicked back into her shoulder with the old, familiar force - enough to dislocate a normal human's arm. The geth prime, meanwhile, toppled backwards over the railing of the dock, a hole a quarter of a foot across blown through its chest. The round had shredded its shields and armor like wet tissue paper, leaving the geth to take a step backwards before the light in its flashlight head died, and it crumpled backwards, flipping into the canyon below the docks. Ferin resighted on a second target, then a third and a fourth, before she pushed the sniper rifle to the side as her tactical cloak died, and grabbed her assault rifle. She quickly ducked behind the crate and preparing for combat as Ash's machine gun roared to life, spraying bullets liberally across the docks. Ferin had noticed that the moment the geth prime's flashlight had turned off, all the geth around it had...flared, or something. They'd all gone dark, then restored almost instantly. She wasn't sure what it meant, but it was an anomaly, and she hated anomalies on the battlefield. She leaned out and fired off several rounds at a geth, dropping it quickly as the armor-piercing rounds shattered its shields and smashed through its armor. As she ducked back behind cover, her earpiece crackled to life.

"Shadow 1-1, come in. This is Storm 6."

"Captain, I'm a little busy right now!"

Ferin ducked down a little deeper reflexively as she heard a round crack over her head, flying over her cover. She rolled out of cover, somersaulting forward to a heavy metal crate a few meters ahead of her.

"What's the situation down there, Major?"

"Not good, sir. Where've you been?"

"We went dark to avoid some geth ships. Request SITREP."

"We have two KIA, Corporal Jenkins and the Spectre, Nihlus. Majority of Alliance forces, 1st Battalion, 212th Infantry presumed KIA. We've encountered one survivor, Sergeant Ashley Williams. Lieutenant Alenko, Williams, and I are currently in contact with a platoon-sized element of geth in pursuit of turian who appears to be working with the geth."

"Shadow 1-1, say again. Nihlus is dead?"

"Affirmative."

"Fuck."

"Roger that."

Ferin leaned out and fired off sixteen rounds at a crate that a geth that was getting too close for comfort was taking cover behind, before dodging back behind cover as three rounds smashed into her shields.

"Have you secured the Prothean device, Shadow 1-1?"

"Negative, we're bogged down fighting enemy forces. There's a tram at the end of the docks that Sergeant Williams says will take us to the device, but we can't reach it! We could use indirect if you can offer it"

"I'll route you to the fire direction center."

A moment later, a new voice sounded. "Shadow 1-1, this is Storm 4-1. send us coordinates and we will provide fire support."

"Roger that, Storm 4-1. Sending."

Ferin set her rifle to the side and quickly brought up her omni-tool's interface, punching in coordinates as she started speaking to her team members.

"Sergeant Williams, LT, we're getting fire support from a frigate in orbit. Fall back!"

"Ma'am, they'll destroy the docks with a fire mission!"

"We'll figure out another way. Get moving!"

Williams spoke up.

"Ma'am, there's vehicles back at our base that we could use to reach the port. They're slower than the tram, but they'll get us there."

"You didn't mention this before we engaged a fucking platoon?"

"You didn't give me time to, ma'am."

"Just get your asses moving. Danger close."

She switched her channel back to the Normandy.

"Storm 4-1, fire mission fire for effect, over."

"Shadow 1-1, fire for effect, out."

"Hit my target, over."

"Uploaded coordinates, out."

"Platoon-size element of dismounted enemy, three light armor, in the open. Requesting 60 mike mike or smaller, danger close, over."

"Infantry platoon, three light armor, in the open. Sending 60 mike mike, over."

Ferin scrambled upright just in time for a geth to tackle her. The two toppled to the ground, struggling to gain the upper hand, but the geth had the dominant position and the advantage in size, though Ferin had the advantage in strength with her cybernetic enhancements and gene therapy. They struggled for a minute, before Ferin's omni-tool crackled again.

"Shot out."

_Fuck!_ Ferin gritted her teeth and heaved the geth over her, onto its back, and somersaulted backwards to land on top of it, straddling it. She punched twice before the geth managed to lever her to the side and regain its position on top of her. In that instant, Ferin managed to get a hand free and seized her N7 pistol, firing six rounds rapidly into the Geth's lower abdomen. A silver, slippery fluid that smelled like motor oil sprayed across her armor as the geth twitched and she kicked it off of her, holstering the pistol and grabbing her assault rifle.

"Shot over."

She sprinted back, ignoring the rounds flying towards her and slid into position behind her sniper rifle. She let her assault rifle dangle from its sling around her shoulder, not bothering to deactivate the weapon and allow it to enter it compact form as she picked up the heavy Valiant and started sprinting away from the docks. Two hundred meters away, she dove into a shallow river bank that turned into a waterfall over the edge of the chasm the docks sat over, hunkering down and covering her head as the water splashed over her.

"Splash over."

"Splash out!"

Five seconds later, the first explosions hit, only four hundred meters away from her. Even though the shells were tiny compared to what the Normandy had at its disposal, the small distance she was from the shells meant that dirt was kicking over the river bank and the ground was shaking as dozens of 60 millimeter mortar shells hit the ground within seconds of each other. A few moments later, the explosions stopped.

"Rounds complete, over."

Ferin coughed. "Rounds complete, out." She stuck her head up over the river bank, to see the metal and stone infrastructure of the docks warped dangerously. They were creaking and bending more as each second went by. _Guess the docks really are a no-go...at least those geth are dead_.

"Storm 4-1, BDA to follow."

"Send it."

"All targets destroyed, local infrastructure destroyed. Acceptable collateral damage."

"Affirmative, Shadow 1-1. We're sitting ready if you need us again."

"Well, if you want to take that big-ass dreadnought..."

The receiver chuckled as he cut the transmission. Ferin crawled out of the small gulley, looking around.

"LT, status report."

"Good to go, ma'am. Sergeant Williams and I have secured a car from the base. We're en route to you now."

"Roger that. Hurry it up. I don't want that turian escaping."

"Affirmative. Be there in under a minute."

Ferin compacted her Valiant back into its traveling form, attaching it to her back again as she picked up her assault rifle, making sure the weapon wasn't damaged. True to his word, Kaidan and Ashley arrived in thirty seconds. The vehicle they'd secured was a Panther, a standard Alliance all-terrain vehicle, four-wheeled and built wide to avoid flipping. It also had boosters, a lot like the M35 Mako. There was no weapon mounted on the one they'd secured.

"Of all the vehicles on the base, you grabbed one without a turret?"

"All the ones with turrets got blown up. Get in, ma'am!"

Shaking her head, Ferin clambered into the passenger, rolling the window down and resting her assault rifle out of it.

"Step on it, sergeant."

"Roger ma'am."

It took about ten minutes to reach the spaceport, Ferin grinding her teeth the entire time. Sergeant Williams stopped in the parking lot, opening her door and grabbing her machine gun.

"Williams! What the fuck are you doing?"

"Dismounting, ma'am?"

"Just fucking drive into the port! We need to get to the artifact, now!"

"I...uh, yes, ma'am."

Ashley climbed back in, restarting the Panther. Ferin shook her head as they smashed through the gates of the spaceport, driving several hundred meters.

"There's the tram terminal!"

"Do you know where the artifact is?"

"One of the loading bays, I don't know which one. There's only three, so it shouldn't take long to search the-hold on!"

Ashley suddenly jerked the vehicle to the right, turning 90 degrees in less than a second. The vehicle skidded, raising onto its left two wheels, before settling back and taking off in the new direction.

"What the fuck, sergeant?"

"Sapper teams! The geth are planting bombs! They've gotta be withdrawing from the port, we need to disarm those bombs!"

"There's no time, sergeant, we have to get to that artifact!"

"If we don't disarm those bombs, the artifact'll get blown up too! The colony's going to take years to recover if they have to rebuild the spaceport!"

"I gave you an order, sergeant!"

Ashley snarled, but changed direction again, the vehicle skidding harshly on the pavement. Without warning, plasma bolts started flying towards them.

"Geth, 2 o'clock!"

Ferin sighted out the window, squeezing off rounds in an attempt to suppress the geth as they took off towards the loading bays. A moment later, there was a violent impact as the truck glancingly hit a heavy metal crate.

"Fuck, hold on!"

The truck swerved dangerously as Ashley tried to maintain control of the Panther, only to send it skidding horizontally at fifty miles an hour. Before Ferin could make sense of the situation, the truck was rolling, smashing into a wall and ceasing movement, upside-down.

Ferin opened her eyes, her head hurting badly and her ears ringing. She raised her hand and touched her head with a groan of pain, her hand coming away bloody. She looked around and found her Valkyrie half in the truck, half out, the barrel twisted badly and the weapon broken open. _Ugh...fuck..._she unsteadily looked around to find Williams stirring beside her. She wasn't sure where Kaidan was...he wasn't in the truck, but gunfire was audible outside, so maybe he was still fighting the geth. With a groan, Ferin crawled over to the sergeant.

"Williams...Williams, you okay?"

The woman groaned.

"I think I have a concussion. And I think my arms are broken."

Ferin touched her shoulder.

"You'll live. Come on, we gotta go."

"This what they make you N7 guys do? Crawl around when your arms are broken?"

"Pretty much. Come on, sergeant, we'll get you to a doc after we get out of here."

"If we get out of here."

"We're getting out of here. Where are the fractures?"

"My..." the sergeant gasped with pain. "left forearm, right...upper arm thingy."

"Alright, sergeant. I'm going to pull you out of here, okay? Your suit should already be stiffening around the breaks and forming a splint, right?"

"What kind of armor do you think I have? Our armor's from freaking 2120."

"Okay, I need to pull you out and splint your injuries, then, okay? It's going to hurt."

"Just do it...ma'am..."

Ferin, grimacing with pain, crawled on top of Ashley.

"There's not enough room to pull, so we're going to do a neck drag."

"My arms are broken, ma'am."

"I know. We'll use your legs. Come on."

Ashley bent her legs, locking her feet around Ferin's neck, with Ferin's arms outside of her legs. A moment later, the officer started crawling, dragging the wounded sergeant feet first out of the truck, eliciting an agonized howl from the NCO. As they reached the exterior, Ferin saw Kaidan using his pistol to defend their location.

"Major! I thought..." he trailed off as he saw the improvised neck drag.

"No, it's not sexual, LT. Williams has two breaks in her arms. You okay?"

"As much as I can be. I got thrown out of the truck when we hit the crate. Luckily, my shields broke the fall...sort of."

"Alright. See what you can do for the sergeant. Pill pack, splints."

"Her armor doesn't auto-splint?"

"She said it don't."

"Alright."

Kaidan pulled his combat aid kit, checking for other injuries on the sergeant while Ferin crouched down behind cover, pulling out her N7 Legion and returning fire at the geth. There seemed to be a lot fewer of them than before, and they all seemed to be generally falling back. The commando looked around.

"Kaidan, can the sergeant get us to the artifact?"

Ashley struggled to her feet, pulling her pistol as she nodded. "I can, ma'am. Luckily, we crashed into the loading bays. It's in here, somewhere."

"You don't need to shoot, sergeant."

"It's fine, ma'am. Pill pack's in me, splints are holding the bone firm, and the medigel's working. I'll be right as rain."

She limped through the gate the truck had smashed into, followed quickly by Kaidan and Ferin.

"Luck, for a change. That's gotta be it."

Ferin nodded in agreement at Kaidan as they looked at the artifact. "Why'd the geth leave it...?" Ferin shook her head. Something wasn't right. "Secure the area. I'll radio the Normandy."

She turned away as the two warriors moved to secure the area.

"Storm 6, this is Shadow 1-1. Package is secure, requesting evac at my location."

"Roger that, Shadow 1-1. Inbound for pick up."

Ferin spun as she heard a shout and saw Kaidan staggering backwards in front of the Prothean device, Williams standing helplessly beside him. The artifact was glowing, getting brighter and brighter. Ferin immediately sprinted towards Kaidan, grabbing him and pushing him backwards away from the beacon. She turned to look over her shoulder and suddenly went limp, even as Kaidan shook his head as he regained her bearings.

"What..Major!"

Kaidan gasped as Ferin was lifted into the air, and started to move towards her before Ashley seized him from behind.

"No, it's too dangerous!"

Ferin felt a wordless scream building up inside her, but that she could not release, as images of death, destruction, strange images and words she couldn't understand appeared in her mind. There were insect-like creatures...gigantic space ships...genetic experiments? Then, as though from a distance, she heard an explosion. She noted without alarm that she was sailing through the air, just before everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 2: Hunting a Spectre

_A golden world, like a forest in Autumn...leaves fell softly from the trees, landing gently on the floor of damp deadfall. But there was a noise in the distance, a noise that repeated occasionally, interrupting the quiet peace of the scene. It was harsh and long, dark and loud, grating and cacophonous. With every repetition of the sound, it was as though a shadow grew upon the forest, falling deeper and deeper. Now there were animals. Deer, and elk, and coyotes, bears, foxes, squirrels, wolves, running all the same direction. A wolf passed a deer without a backwards glance. A deer ran directly towards a bear. Something was wrong...now there were humans. Soldiers, Marines, civilians, sailors...some were recognizable. There, Jenkins, a hole still burned through his heart, his knee melted and his side burned horribly. There stood N7 Detachment 61127, 2nd Platoon, Raider Company, 1st Battalion, Army Combat Applications Group, looking calm and steady, even with horrible wounds from the thresher maws' terrible acid burns. Over there, Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, gazing with sorrow skywards. There was Sergeant Ashley Williams, her head turned over her shoulder as she ran, watching behind her. Joker, standing tall and proud, a rifle in his right hand. Captain Anderson, wounded badly and heavily burned. And there were others, others she didn't recognize. A human, wearing skin-tight, form-fitting clothing, exceptionally gorgeous, smiling gently; behind her, a dark-clothed man, one she recognized from her N7 class, a friend who she'd lost contact with. A turian standing still, his jawbone fractured and wounded, half his face missing. A krogan with three vertical scars along the right side of his face, standing next to a second, massive krogan. A salarian, missing part of one of his horns, his eyes closed, as if at peace. A woman, her head partially shaved, tattoos all along her body, pent up rage in every motion she made. Two asari, with all the endless youth of their race, throwing biotic fields behind them as a quarian beside them sent a combat drone into the forest. A geth, N7-qualified? It wore N7 armor, but had a large hole blasted through its chest. And there were more, hundreds more, all of different races and all varied. Vorcha, batarians, asari, krogan, salarians, elcor, hanar, humans, turians, even what looked like pictures of rachni from the things she'd read on the extranet, and more, races she didn't recognize. And then, she saw the flames that all were running from. The forest turned black and red, blazing hotly, as the massive spaceship from Eden Prime approached, along with several others just like it. Red beams of energy exploded from their eyes, incinerating everything in their path. Behind them, there was a city, now plain to see, buildings reaching to the sky in tortured, melted and blackened frames. Flames still licked up the support structures, the sky glowing a dull red as embers floated skyward. And then...as though it were happening...there was Kaidan, Ashley, Anderson, Joker, flames beginning to envelope them. She saw the geth, screaming, the krogan roaring, those people she didn't know and didn't recognize burning, and with every one she saw starting to catch fire, she felt as though her heart was breaking. She locked eyes for a moment with that gorgeous, black-haired woman, then looked down to see her own body burning, flames reaching up. Then she could hear them, even over the enormous blaring of the starships - "Shepard, help us!"_

Ferin started awake, sitting upright. A cold sweat covered her body as she looked around to find Dr. Chakwas, the Normandy's resident physician, sitting nearby. _The infirmary..._she noticed she wasn't wearing armor anymore. Rather, she was wearing her ACUs - baggy trousers with a digital camouflage pattern, bloused into her tan boots. She wasn't wearing the blouse, just a plain tan shirt with the N7 logo on the chest.

"Ah, Major Shepard. I'm glad to see you've come to. Are you feeling alright?"

"I...what's..."

"You were in a coma. It was strange, although physically you're fine - aside from some bad bruises and a minor concussion - I detected some abnormal beta waves and a very large amount of rapid eye movement, which is typically associated with very intense dreaming."

"I saw...things. I think they came from the beacon."

Anderson spoke, startling Ferin. She hadn't seen him, focusing on the doctor as she busied around the medbay. "A beacon? What was its message?"

"I'm not sure...a warning."

"What kind of warning?"

"I-I don't know. Death. Destruction...ours."

"Shepard, what happened down there? One minute, you're calling for an orbital strike, then you're reporting mission accomplished. Next thing I know, Alenko's fireman carrying you to the loading ramp - while he has a sprained ankle and a torn ligament in his arm, and there's an Army sergeant who's practically delirious with pain. Jenkins is dead, as is Nihlus, and half the colony's been destroyed."

"I...Jenkins got hit almost as soon as we landed, sir. The LT - er, lieutenant - and I kept moving and ran into some survivors from 212th, but they were killed except for Sergeant Williams in a firefight with a geth squad. We kept moving, and ran into some scientists who said the artifact got moved to the docks for loading...then we found Nihlus' body. He'd been-"

"Executed, we know, we did an autopsy. A single 14 millimeter round, went through the base of his skull and severed his brainstem. The shooter was an expert - ballistics say the round was fired from a Carnifex pistol at about 10 meters, the bullet went straight through his exoskeleton at a structural weakness, broke through his carapace, right under his skull and through his brain."

"We met a smuggler. I-I don't remember his name. Maybe Sergeant Williams or the LT remembers. He saw what happened. There was another turian there, said his name was...Sa...Soren, maybe?."

"Soren...I don't recognize the name."

"He said they knew each other, Nihlus relaxed around him."

"Hmm...wait, by the..." Anderson's eyes widened. "It couldn't have...was it Saren?"

"Yes, that was it."

"This is bad. Saren's a Spectre, one of the best. A living legend. But if he shot Nihlus, if he's allied himself with the geth, then he's gone rogue."

"A Spectre?"

"Yes. Shepard, rogue Spectres are dangerous. Saren even more so. And he hates humans."

"Hates humans?"

"He believes we're expanding too fast, that we're a threat to the galaxy. A lot of species think that way, but most don't act on it. But I know Saren, I know his politics. If he has an army of geth at his command, and the secrets that he got from the beacon...he won't stop until he has wiped humanity off the face of the galaxy. He's ruthless, Shepard. Nothing's too much collateral damage when he's trying to accomplish a goal. We need to report this to the council immediately. Everything, from Nihlus's death to the beacon. Especially the beacon. "

Ferin scoffed slightly. "What are we going to tell them? I had a bad dream?"

"Shepard, if that beacon was warning us of our destruction, the Council needs to know. They wanted to study the beacon anyway; they might as well know what it contained."

"Yes sir."

"Get back on your feet soon, Major. We need you at full strength."

"Sir, wait. What happened to Sergeant Williams?"

"She seems like a capable enough soldier, and she was on Eden Prime. She's been permanently reassigned to the Normandy."

Ferin smiled. "Good. She deserves it."

"Get some rest, Shepard."

Anderson walked out of the medbay, leaving Ferin alone with Dr. Chakwas, who was typing on her computer and looking at notes on a datapad. "I alright, doc?"

"Yes, you're fine. Oh, Kaidan wanted me to tell you to file a missing equipment requisition order when you go back to the crew quarters. When he carried you back here, you had both sustained losses. You need a new set of N7 armor - the beacon ripped your old one to shreds, and you'll need some new guns, I suppose. Your sword survived, it's in the armory with the rest of your usual equipment."

"Thanks, doc. Am I clear to go?"

"Yes, you may be released."

Shaking her head slightly, rubbing her temples with one hand, Ferin stood and walked out of the medbay, heading to the crew quarters. She found her bunk and laid down, pulling out her computer and beginning the process of the requisitions order. Hahne-Kedar light armor...her N7 M4 Valkyrie...her N7 Valiant...and her N7 Legion. She sighed as she finished filling out the N7 form.

After placing the requisitions order, Ferin brought up the Alliance military database, perusing it in search of Williams' records. The soldier had an outstanding record, no disciplinary problems, top physical fitness scores, distinguished honor graduate from infantry school. Still, it was also rather lackluster. Her postings were all to garrison duties with units that were held in reserve, rather than in the good locations, and there didn't seem to be any reason for it. _Airborne, zero-g, air assault qualified, and she's never been on a combat tour?_ Finally, Ferin shrugged, setting the handheld computer back in her footlocker and clambering up to her bunk, which sat directly above Jenkins' bunk. She closed her eyes, resting her head on her pillow, when she heard someone clear their throat. She looked over the edge of the bed to see Ashley and Kaidan standing below her.

"Sergeant Williams. Kaidan. Good to see you guys are alright."

"Yeah, same for you, Shepard. You had Ash here worried as hell."

Shepard cocked an eyebrow. "Ash?"

"Oh, sorry. Sergeant Williams."

Ferin laughed, waving her hand at him. He smiled slightly, glancing over at Ashley.

"Glad to see you got assigned to the Normandy."

"Yeah, Captain Anderson pulled a few strings. I'm grateful to him and the LT for getting me the chance."

"Oh? Just them?"

"Well, you too, ma'am."

"Uh-huh."

Ferin could see a smile threatening to break out on the sergeant's face. Shaking her head with a grin, she looked at Kaidan.

"What about you?"

"What about me, Shepard?"

"What are you here for?"

"Just checking in on you. It was my fault you...ended up in the med bay. I'm sorry about that, I should never have gotten so close to the beacon."

Kaidan cast his eyes downward as he spoke. Ferin shook her head.

"It's not a problem, Kaidan. We look out for each other. I'm more sorry about Jenkins."

He nodded. "Losing Jenkins was tough on the crew. I'm glad you pulled through, at least."

They fell silent for a moment, remembering the burly corporal, before Kaidan spoke again. "Hey, you start working on your requisitions forms yet?"

"Yeah. Actually, I just finished them a few minutes ago. Why?"

Kaidan opened his mouth, then closed it.

"You're done?"

"Yeah..."

"I have about fifty forms to fill out and a meeting with a supply petty officer who's going to chew my ass for losing equipment before I can even order new equipment. How the hell are you done already?"

Ferin grinned and pointed to her N7 logo.

"You Special Forces types get all the nice perks."

"No, just N7," she said with a laugh. "If I wasn't, I'd have about 50 forms to fill out too."

Kaidan shook his head. "Well, I gotta get back to filling out forms...hey, by the way, Ash is taking Jenkins' old bunk. Don't have room elsewhere for her, and...Jenkins won't be needing it anymore."

Ashley touched Kaidan's arm. "I'm sorry."

He nodded, then turned and headed out. Ashley dropped her pack, looking around.

"Why am I not surprised that starships are just as uncomfortable as barracks?"

Ferin smiled. "Soldiers don't need nice things. Never served on an Alliance spaceship?" The question was rhetorical; her service record had indicated only garrison duty on planets, but Ferin wanted to know why she was only on garrison duty.

Ashley shifted slightly. "No, ma'am."

"I was going over your record earlier. You're an exemplary soldier, but you've had crap assignments. What's up?"

"Ma'am, I-"

Joker's voice came over the intercom. "Major, Captain Anderson wants to see you."

"Roger, Joker."

"We're getting ready to jump to Widow, we'll hit the mass relay in about five."

"Alright. What's the captain want?"

"Just getting you prepped to meet with the Council, and our ambassador. Udina. I hear he's kind of an asshole, so be ready."

"Thanks, Joker." Ferin turned to Ashley. "I'll talk later, alright?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Ferin dropped from her bunk, pulling her ACU blouse on, strapping a Legion to her hip, and putting a patrol cap on, and heading to mee

* * *

The Citadel Presidium was calm and peaceful. An artificial atmosphere with weather was far at the top, clouds and sky and all, while the grounds themselves had lakes and fountains, grasses from multiple planets, and trees lining the neat, white streets. Ferin looked around peacefully as she lounged against a railing, Ashley and Kaidan beside her. All three were wearing their dress uniforms; a dark blue, formal affair for Kaidan, with golden stripes denoting his rank on his shoulders and the Alliance logo in gold on his upper right chest, a black tie with a full windsor knot, and a navy blue beret on his head. On his right shoulder was a dark red cord, representing his job as an infantryman, and his trousers had a golden stripe running up the center on each side, signifying his leadership position as an officer. His name was centered on his jacket's right breast pocket on the right side, underneath the Alliance logo. For some reason, the Alliance Navy and Marines didn't allow for decorations to be worn on their dress uniforms, so Kaidan's chest was disconcertingly bare, with no awards at all.

Ashley and Ferin were in the Alliance Army's dress blues. They wore dark blue slacks bloused in black combat boots, with yellow stripes on the sides for Ashley, and red stripes for Ferin - denoting NCO status for the former, and N7 status for the latter. They wore white shirts, with black tabs around their necks, and a black jacket over the top of their shirts, buttoned up to several inches below their neck tabs. On the lapels of both their jackets were the letters S.A. - Systems Alliance. Ashley wore a light blue cord on her right shoulder, as an infantry soldier. Additionally, she had two rows of ribbons on the left side of her jacket, and three ribbons on the right side of her jacket, just below the Alliance logo. The left side of her jacket represented awards she'd been awarded personally, while the right side represented awards her unit had been awarded while she had been in service with that unit. Just below her ribbons on the right side, her last name was on a nameplate, centered on the breast pocket. The unit patch of the 212th Infantry Regiment rested on her right arm, while she wore a small pin of the unit patch of the 47th Infantry Division under her nameplate. Under the unit patch and symmetrical on the left arm were three golden chevrons and a single rocker underneath them, representing her rank, while several gold stripes on her forearm represented years of service. On her head, Ashley wore a dark blue beret with a sky blue flash.

Ferin's uniform was similar to Ashley's, but she was more richly decorated. A gold oak leaf decorated both her shoulders, representing her rank. She had ten golden stripes on her left forearm, representing 10 years of service to the Alliance, and three on her right forearm, representing 3 combat tours. On her right shoulder was the Army N7 patch - a gold, winged sword pointing down, a bald eagle in gold above it, imposed over a royal blue shield. Above the eagle, centered were the characters N7 in blood red, with a royal blue tab above the shield and the letters SPECIAL FORCES in gold. On her right shoulder was a black cord, awarded for her specialization as an infiltrator. She had five rows of ribbons on her left chest, the top honors being her Star of Terra and the Medal of Honor. On her left arm, she wore three tabs - the top read N7, the middle read Shadow, and the bottom read Special Forces. On her right chest, she wore two rows of ribbons, representing all the honors that N7 had earned in the few years she had been a member. A golden globe was pinned level with her navel on the right side, representing qualification as an N7 drill instructor. Underneath the S.A. on her lapels was an insignia consisting of a four pointed star with a pair of crossed swords behind it; the official symbol of Special Forces in the Systems Alliance. A pair of white gloves covered her hands, with her officer's dress saber resting on her left hip - although intended as decorative, it still possessed a mono-molecular blade and lethal functionality. Finally, in lieu of the officer's dress cap, she wore a dark blue beret on her head, a black flash with N7 embossed in blood red on it.

All three drew looks from passers-by; it was rare to see Alliance military on the Citadel, the seat of government for the "civilized" galaxy, and rarer still to see them in full dress uniform. Humanity had only been a part of the Citadel government for two decades, and had little true influence on galactic decisions, although their star was rising rapidly given humanity's relentless expansion and determination. Many, in fact, regarded humanity with suspicion due to their rapid expansion and the resultant departure of the Batarian Hegemony from the Citadel. Another point of friction was their clashes with first the Turian Hierarchy upon first contact, and the Hegemony over conflicts of interest. Humanity had won both wars, much to the surprise of the galaxy as a whole - and causing further concern -as the turians had the most powerful military in the galaxy, while the Hegemony possessed the second-most powerful. Humanity had proven that its strange, for the galaxy, and fluid tactics allowed their comparatively small Navy to outmaneuver even the massive numbers of the turian fleets, and their unconventional warfare doctrine, learned from guerilla warfare on Earth from the past, allowed their lightly armored and well-trained Army to devastate heavily armored and heavily armed infantry. Their military prowess often concerned the galaxy; humanity was the only race that was fully capable in both unconventional and conventional warfare. Every other race specialized in one or the other; while they could perform in their weaker aspect, they did so poorly and relied on their allies to provide that power. For example, the turians provided the bulk of the Citadel's military force, while the salarians provided espionage and sabotage, and the asari provided commandos who specialized in raids and guerrilla warfare. But humanity's military abilities, their perceived warlike nature, and their rapid colonization led to a large amount of mistrust, and a refusal to give humanity more influence. This was despite their continued bids for a seat on the Citadel Council, or even given a chance in the Citadel's Special Tactics and Reconnaissance - the Spectres, the galaxy's equivalent to the Alliance's N7, hand-picked from the finest asari commandos, the finest salarian spies, the finest turian soldiers. Each was supposed to possess the intelligence to act as investigators in even the most mysterious of cases, the strength to emerge victorious even outnumbered a thousand to one, the cunning to remain inconspicuous even exposed plainly to the enemy, the courage to pursue even the most dangerous prey to outside the bounds of the galaxy, and the resolve to perform any action, regardless of morality or legality, to protect the galaxy and the Citadel.

Ferin's musings were interrupted as Ambassador Donnel Udina, humanity's representative to the Citadel, and Anderson joined them.

"What's this, Anderson? Did you decide to bring your entire crew to the hearing?" Udina snapped irritably. The man was irascible at the best of times, speaking in an odd, clipped cadence.

"Lieutenant Alenko and Staff Sergeant Williams were both on Eden Prime. I thought they might be able to help clarify the events at the hearing."

"Hmph. I hope Major Shepard understands the severity of what she has done. We gave her one task - one - and she managed to botch the mission and get a Spectre killed."

"That wasn't Shepard's fault. That was Saren's doing. He was the one who attacked Eden Prime, and he murdered Nihlus."

"Let's hope the Council sees it that way. Meet us in the Council chambers, Shepard. And be ready for a disciplinary hearing if we deem it appropriate."

He turned on his heel and strode off, Captain Anderson following with a shrug at Ferin. Ashley scoffed.

"And that is why I hate politicians."

Ferin shrugged and headed towards the Council chambers with Ashley and Kaidan, walking through the Presidium.

"It's very...peaceful here," Kaidan said. "Like a garden."

"They've built themselves quite the lake. Wonder if anyone's ever drowned in it."

"You're always so negative, Williams. Calm isn't a bad thing."

"No, sir, but this isn't calm. It's...it's unnatural. Designed to give the illusion of peace, even in times of storms."

"Hm. I wonder what that insect thing is doing?"

Ashley looked and cocked her head, looking at the green, multiple-legged insect as it clicked past them.

"Looks like a...praying mantis. Creepy."

"You always have such a negative opinion of any aliens you meet."

"They haven't exactly earned a positive opinion, LT."

Kaidan shrugged. "They're people, just like us."

"Not just like us. If they were...they aren't. You saw what the geth did."

"Those aren't people. They're machines."

"They 're aliens. Come on, Major, you agree with me, right?"

Ferin shrugged. "In my experience, there's good and bad in every species. They're more human than I originally thought. Some are...unknowable, but they all feel, just like us."

Ashley shook her head.

"Regardless, let's go meet the Council. I'm sure Udina won't want to be kept waiting."

"Right. Let's go appease the asshol- I mean, the honored representative of humanity."

Kaidan snickered as they entered an elevator, which shot upwards rapidly. As they ascended, a newscaster began reporting on the recent attack at Eden Prime, and reports of problems in different planets...ExoGeni losing contact with some colonies.

Ashley spoke as they rose. "The Council aren't going to ask me any questions, are they?"

"I doubt it. We've already filed our reports. Now we just have to trust Ambassador Udina."

"No, we really don't. Sir."

When the elevator stopped, Ferin stepped out to find herself in a dimly lit atrium, a soft orange light illuminating the majority of it. She was startled to see cherry blossoms floating through the air, with decorative cherry trees in full, pink blossom, lining the roads.

"Are those...cherry trees?" Ashley said, startled.

Ferin shrugged. "Let's...go..." The three began ascending the steps. Kaidan remarked on the stairs as they climbed up their third flight.

"You sure have to climb a lot of stairs to reach the council. Think that's supposed to be symbolic of their importance?"

Ashley shook her head. "Nah, I bet these stairs aren't just for show. If this place were ever attacked, they'd make for good defensive positions."

As they advanced, they could start to hear an argument between two turians.

"...Saren's hiding something! Give me more time, sir. Stall the Council!"

"Stall the Council? Don't be ridiculous, Garrus. Your investigation is over."

They saw a turian, richly dressed in well decorated armor, walking away, as a second turian in blue armor, with blue facial markings and a holographic visor, sighed. Ferin noted his athletic build and his obvious muscularity - he stood about seven feet tall, although she couldn't estimate his weight. He turned and saw Ferin and walked over.

"Major Shepard? I'm Garrus Vakarian. Citadel Security. I was the officer in charge of the investigation into Saren."

"Who were you just talking to, officer?"

"Please, it's just Garrus. That was Executor Pallin. My boss. He'll be reporting my findings on Saren to the Council."

"Sounds like you really want to bring Saren down."

"I don't trust him. Something about him rubs me the wrong way. But he's a Spectre, everything he touches is classified. There's nothing solid against him."

Kaidan spoke up. "I think the Council is waiting for us, Shepard."

Garrus stepped to the side. "Good luck, Major. Maybe they'll listen to you."

"Thanks, off...Garrus."

The three warriors walked past him, continuing up the long pathway and stairs to the Council.

"That sounded bad. If he doesn't have any evidence, we're sol," Ashley remarked.

Kaidan raised an eyebrow. "Sol?"

"You've never heard that, LT?"

"No. Other than as our home system."

"Sol. S.O.L. Shit out of luck," Ferin clarified. "Now quiet down. We're about to go into something that's actually important for a change."

"Sorry, ma'am."

Anderson was waiting for them in a small central area where the road turned into a circle around a pool, a rapid transit hub, and a stand of cherry trees. He was tapping his foot impatiently, his arms crossed, when he caught sight of them.

"Shepard! Over here. The Council's already started the hearing. Let's go."

Anderson was in the same uniform as Kaidan, the only change being a blood red N7 logo beside the gold rocket and stars of the Alliance, and a Medal of Honor around his neck. All three soldiers snapped to attention in front of him, saluting both the Captain and the Medal of Honor. He returned the salute, then quickly hustled them up the steps.

"...I resent these accusations. Nihlus was both a fellow Spectre, and a good friend."

A giant holographic image of what Ferin assumed to be the Spectre, Saren Arterius, was standing projected beside the Council. Anderson retorted angrily.

"And he stood in your way, so you killed him!"

"Ah, Captain Anderson. You always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me. And this must be your protégé, the great Major Shepard. A great job you did on Eden Prime. Destroying the beacon, getting Nihlus killed."

Ferin narrowed her eyes. "Eden Prime was a top secret mission. The only way you could know about it is if you were there."

He scoffed. "Hardly. With Nihlus dead, his files passed on to me. I...was not impressed. Humanity is clearly not ready for the galaxy. And you are clearly not ready for the responsibilities of a Spectre."

Udina immediately snapped angrily. "You have no right to say that! You have no say in the induction process!"

The asari councilor raised her hands. "Please, calm down. Shepard's induction into the Spectres is not the focus of this meeting."

"That's because there is no focus to this meeting, Councilor. The humans have just manufactured some ridiculous charges against me," Saren said. "Where is the evidence?"

Anderson spoke up. "We have an eyewitness who saw Saren murder Nihlus in cold blood!"

The salarian councilor shook his head. "The testimony of one traumatized dockworker is hardly compelling proof. Do you have any further evidence to submit, Major Shepard?"

"You've already made your decision. I won't waste my breath."

"Wait. There is still the matter of Shepard's vision to discuss," Anderson said.

Saren scoffed loudly. "Are dreams being allowed into testimony, now? How am I to defend myself against this kind of...evidence?"

The turian councilor agreed with Saren. "We must base our judgment on solid proof and evidence, not speculation and visions. If there is no further evidence..."

After a few moments of silence, the asari councilor called the room to attention.

"This meeting of the Council is adjourned."

"I'm glad to see justice was served," Saren said as his holographic image flickered out, a smug smile on his lips.

After descending the steps, Udina turned to Anderson angrily. "It was a mistake bringing you into that meeting, Anderson. You and Saren have too much personal history! It made the Council question our motives."

"That's not the problem. I know Saren, Udina. He won't stop until humanity is erased from the galaxy! Every colony we have, every world we control is at risk. Not even Earth is safe if he has the geth at his command!"

"So how do we stop him?"

After Ferin's question, the two bickering public servants fell silent for some time. Finally, Udina spoke.

"He's a Spectre, and he's shielded by the Council. We have to find some way to expose him before we can bring him down."

"So we need to find evidence."

Ashley interrupted. "Major, that turian police officer sounded like he was close to finding something on Saren. Maybe he can help."

She nodded approvingly. "Good idea, sergeant. We'll need to find him, first."

"I have a contact in C-Sec. An officer by the name Harkin," Udina said. "He can probably point you to this turian."

"Harkin? He's a drunken ass. I won't have anything to do with him," Anderson said.

"Good, because I'm not putting you on this case, Anderson. You're too close to Saren and you'll jeopardize any evidence we find. The Major here will handle the investigation."

"Understood, Ambassador. Where will we find Harkin?"

Anderson answered. "He's probably getting drunk at a strip bar down in the wards, called Chora's Den. He got suspended from C-Sec a little bit ago, if I remember correctly."

"Good luck, Shepard. Anderson, come with me. We need to have a discussion in my office."

The two men strode off, leaving the three Alliance soldiers standing alone in the small landing.

"Not surprised the Council didn't want to help. After all, we're human," Ashley said bitterly.

"You can't blame them, Ash. Saren's one of their best operatives. It'd be like if...someone accused Shepard of betraying the Alliance and working with its enemies. They'd all laugh at him."

"Ugh. I guess we'd better find this Harkin guy."

"Yup. After you, Major."

Ferin sighed. "To the wards, then. Let's get back to the Normandy, first. I don't feel like slumming in my dress blues."

"Good idea, ma'am."

* * *

The wards were lively, filled with people. Ashley grinned as they walked through the open corridors, making their way through the crowds towards Chora's Den. The three soldiers had changed into their casual utility uniforms - ACUs for Ferin and Ashley, the Navy's battle dress uniform for Kaidan. While Ferin and Ashley wore a pixelated camouflage pattern in various shades of grey, tan, and green, with full sleeves, Kaidan's uniform had rolled sleeves and more twiddly bits. His was a solid, navy blue color, except for a small gold Alliance insignia on his chest, an Alliance flag on his right arm, and his name and "S.A. MARINES" printed on either side of his chest. Ferin and Ashley had similar devices, although their uniforms lacked the Alliance insignia -just the Alliance flag on their right arms, their names, and "S.A. ARMY".

"Screw the Presidium, this is the place to be on the Citadel. It's _alive_."

Kaidan shrugged, feeling uneasy. "I've never been one for crowds."

"Now who's being negative?"

Kaidan laughed a little as they made their way into an alley, moving out of the crowds and into the cramped quarters.

"I think Chora's Den is through this doorway, boss." Ashley opened the door at the end of the alley, leading the three into a large, fairly open area with a large hole inexplicably in the middle of the area. The area was dimly lit in a dark red light, but a sign reading Chora's Den with the image of a female stripper lounging beside it. _Some things never change_, Ferin thought with a shake of her head.

"That's her! Get her!"

"Wha-"

Ferin heard a gunshot and the snap of a bullet passing by her head, and immediately dove to the ground, her instincts taking control as she drew her Legion from its hip holster and rolled behind the wall surrounding the large, square hole in the middle of the courtyard. Kaidan and Ashley, their reflexes as finely tuned as hers, had already hit the deck, drawing their own sidearms.

"What the fuck?!"

"Sounds like they were expecting us," Kaidan observed. Ferin nodded in agreement, then popped up and fired several rounds off at the thugs. It looked like a couple of turians, a couple of salarians, who quickly ducked behind the barrier on their side of the courtyard.

"Ma'am, I didn't bring any extra thermal clips."

"Neither did I," Ferin muttered as she glanced at Ashley's weapon, an M-5 Phalanx. "Just pick your shots carefully, line your aiming laser up."

"I know how to use my gun. Ma'am." Ashley leaned out and delivered a beautiful headshot moments after she spoke, dropping a salarian to the ground instantly as the round pierced his shields, his helmet, his skull, the back of his skull, and the wall behind him, leaving a large, green blood splatter on the wall behind him.

"Nice shot, sergeant." Ferin popped back up over cover, then ducked down as a couple rounds flew at her, bouncing off of her shields.

"Don't have time for this," she muttered under her breath.

"What, ma'am?" Ashley turned to look at Ferin then blinked as Ferin disappeared from sight. Immediately realizing what Ferin was doing, she popped up and fired a couple rounds off, drawing attention to herself. Kaidan, meanwhile, twisted his hand and pushed outwards as purple energy coiled around his arm. A turian on the other side grunted as he was hurled backwards into the wall, falling to the ground, stunned.

Ferin stole quickly along the wall and peeked out, seeing the last two thugs crouched around the corner, along with the groaning turian. She quickly leaned out and opened fire with her Legion, putting two rounds in the heads of each thug rapidly and effectively, even before her cloak dissipated. She paused for a moment as the thugs collapsed, then stood.

"Clear."

"I think those were Saren's men," Kaiden said.

"Well, whoever they were, they're dead now. Come on, let's see what this Harkin can tell us."

"Aye aye, ma'am."

They holstered their pistols and entered the bar. None of the patrons seemed disturbed by the gunfire, which Ferin took to mean that their little corner of the wards was either very used to gunfire or were expecting the firefight. Kaiden and Ashley were focused on things other than the crowd, though.

"We're 50,000 light years away from Earth, in a new culture, and we still manage to walk into a bar and find women, shaking their asses on a stage."

"I can see why this bar is so popular. It's got quite the...uh...view."

Ashley threw an _are-you-kidding-me_ look at the lieutenant. "Hey, LT. Put your tongue back in your mouth before you trip on it."

Ferin chuckled. "At ease, sergeant. You guys relax. I'm going to go look for this Harkin."

"Yes ma'am. So, LT, you want that table right there, so you can have a front-row seat? It's too bad I don't have any 1-credit chits for you."

"Come on, Ash, I'm not..."

Their argument faded into the background chatter and music as they walked off to find a table, Ferin walking through the club as she looked for Harkin. Finally, in a little corner, she saw a middle-aged man wearing a C-Sec uniform and drinking alone. She walked over to him, stopping in front of him. He predictably looked her body up and down before he looked at her face.

"Well, well, doesn't that soldier getup look real nice on that bod of yours, sweetheart. Why don't you sit your sweet little ass down beside old Harkin, let him buy a drink for you, and see where the night goes?"

Ferin had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as she crossed her arms.

"Maybe later."

"Too bad. You know, if more soldiers looked like you, I might have considered joining the Alliance instead of C-Sec."

"C-Sec, eh? Tell you what, I'm looking for a friend of mine from C-Sec. Garrus Vakarian."

"Garrus." He laughed. "That stick in the mud? He's no fun. He doesn't have friends. So that brings to mind the question of what you want with him."

"Business."

"You must be part of Captain Anderson's crew. Hmph. I'll tell you what you want to know, but first, you have to answer a question for me."

"What's that?"

"Did Anderson tell you his dirty little secret?"

Ferin sighed. "Just tell me where Vakarian is."

"Oh-ho. So he didn't."

"Look, Harkin, if you don't know, just tell me so I can stop wasting my time here."

"Anderson used to be a Spectre, you know."

"What?"

"Yup. First human ever given that honor, and he blew it. Messed it up so bad they kicked him out. And now he's trying to get back at Saren for it..."

"Great, now tell me where Vakarian is."

Harkin scoffed. "Not even a rise out of you. Last time I saw him, he was going to Dr. Michel's clinic on the other side of the markets."

"Thanks. Now you can stop staring at my tits."

Harkin shook his head in irritation and finished his drink. "Go on, get out of here. Leave me in peace."

Ferin stood and headed over to Ashley and Kaidan's table.

"Find him, Shepard?"

"Yeah. He says Vakarian's at a clinic on the other side of the wards. I'll go check it out. But you guys stay here."

"What? No way, ma'am. We're in this investigation too."

Ferin raised her hand. "I appreciate the sentiment, Ashley, but I want you guys to keep an eye on Harkin. Something about him rubs me the wrong way."

Kaidan shook his head. "We were just attacked by assassins, Shepard. You shouldn't go off on your own."

"No, we were attacked by thugs. I can handle myself, Kaidan. Don't worry about me. I'm more worried about you two getting drunk and then ending up passed out and robbed."

"That won't happen, because we're coming with you, ma'am."

"Williams. Watch Harkin. I want to know if he's up to something. He said something about Anderson being a Spectre in the past, and if that's true, I want to know how the hell some beat cop at C-Sec found out about top secret information. Especially scum like him - if he can find something like that out about the Alliance, what else could he do?"

After a moment, the two sighed and acquiesced. Ferin nodded in approval, then turned and headed out of the bar.

The clinic was about ten minutes away. Other than a run-in with a reporter named Emily Wong, who asked Ferin to uncover evidence of corruption in the Citadel, the trip was uneventful, free of further assassin attacks. At the entrance, however, a man ran out in front of her. _Who the hell-_

"Oh my God, it's really you! Major Shepard, the survivor of Akuze, the legend of the Skyllian Blitz, the hero of Eden Prime!"

"Um...do I know you?"

The man was unfamiliar. He had a medium build, standing around 5'7", with a slight belly. He had his blonde hair cut into a weird flat-top style and had a small goatee around his mouth, which was currently engaged in one of the creepiest grins Ferin had ever seen. _I don't even...how does he even do that? I feel like I'm being stalked just seeing that grin."_

"No, Major, I'm just a civilian. My name's Conrad Verner. But, I've seen all the vids about you! Ferin Shepard, hero of humanity! I...could I have an autograph, Major?"

_Um, what?_ Ferin blinked in surprise. No one had ever asked for an autograph before, but she supposed she could. "Um, sure, no problem."

She signed the notebook he handed her, which she noticed had an N7 logo on the front. She had to suppress a sigh as she handed it back to him.

"Thanks, Major! My wife is going to be so impressed. I'm going to have this framed! Hey, next time you're on Earth, look me up! I'll buy you a drink!"

With that, the man scampered off, disappearing as startlingly rapidly as he'd appeared, as startlingly creepily as his grin.

_Well, that was odd_. _Enough of that, time to see what's going on with Garrus_, Ferin thought. She opened the clinic door to see two things. First, Garrus was sneaking along a support column. Second, there were three armed men, one of whom was holding a doctor and pointing a gun at the doctor. Ferin immediately forgot about Conrad Verner as she drew her pistol and pointed it at the thug.

"Drop it and let her go."

"Who the fuck are you?!"

She started advancing as the thug alternated between pointing the pistol at the doctor and at Ferin.

"Don't come any closer, or I-"

Garrus suddenly rolled out of cover, putting a single round straight through the thug's brainstem. He slumped to the ground, killed almost instantly, as Garrus straightened upright, firing two more rounds that each found their way into the thugs' brains. The doctor collapsed, sobbing, as Garrus made sure the thugs were dead, then holstered his pistol.

"Perfect timing, Shepard. Distracted them just at the right time."

Shepard smiled, holstering her own weapon. "Nice shooting."

"Sometimes you get lucky. Excuse me." He cleared his throat, turning to the doctor. "Dr. Michel, are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

"N...no, I'm okay. Thank you."

Ferin looked at her questioningly. "What did those men want from you?"

"They were Fist's men, I think."

"Who's Fist?"

"He's the owner of Chora's Den. His men wanted to make sure I wouldn't tell Garrus about the quarian who came through here."

"Quarian?"

"Yes, I treated her wounds a few days ago. She had been shot, she was running from someone. I don't remember much, but those men seemed hellbent on making sure she wouldn't be found."

"Thanks doc." As the doctor walked away starting to clean up her clinic and the spilled medical supplies everywhere, Ferin turned to Garrus. "Garrus?"

The turian shrugged. "I think she's running from Saren. Whatever it is, it spooked her a lot."

"It has to be something that could expose him. I need to find that quarian."

"I? Don't you mean, we? It's my investigation."

She cocked her head. "You're a turian. Why do you want another turian brought down so badly?"

"He's allied with the geth. Attacked an allied government. Murdered innocents. I know Saren's history, and if he attacked Eden Prime, it's the last straw. He's a disgrace to my entire race."

She considered it, then nodded. "Welcome aboard, Garrus."

"Before we go, we should look into getting some extra help."

"Oh?"

"I know a krogan who's been threatening to kill Fist. His name's Wrex. I think he's over at the C-Sec Academy. He might be helpful."

"Krogan are tough sons-of-bitches. Why's he at C-Sec?"

"Protective custody. Murder, even of a smuggling, criminal lowlife, is still a crime."

"Alright, Garrus. There's a couple of my buddies at Chora's Den right now, keeping an eye on another C-Sec guy for me. Harkin?"

"Harkin's a drunk ass. He's suspended right now while Internal Affairs investigates him for corruption."

"Not surprised. I talked to him."

Garrus shook his head. "Too many cops like him in C-Sec. It's sad that there's so many regulations and so much red tape that it's easier to break the law than to do your job. Anyone who wants to actually _do_ something about the corruption gets strangled in red tape, and spirits, the Executor is faster to fire cops for breaking C-Sec's rules than breaking the law."

Shepard shrugged. "Sometimes bureaucracy is just part of life."

"It shouldn't be. Anyway, you should probably let your friends know we're coming. Fist doesn't talk to people without an appointment, and his bodyguards shoot first and ask questions later."

"Alright. Let's go get your krogan and then kick down some doors."

"Hah. The Executor's probably going to burst a blood vessel when he hears about this. An unauthorized raid on a known criminal den without a warrant to find evidence for a closed case? I'm breaking fifty regulations. Maybe I'll throw my badge at him after this is done."

"...you're giving up a lot to take down Saren, Garrus."

"It's not just Saren. I don't - I can't do anything, really, while I'm here. I've been thinking of quitting C-Sec for a while. You get stifled by the work and the regulations and you spend more time filing paperwork than you do making a difference. I figure I can help you nail Saren - a criminal and a traitor - then I can...I don't know. Wander the galaxy, figure out some place where I can actually help."

"Well, if you're sure. Let's go."

The two headed out of the clinic and around the wards, making their way to C-Sec. Ferin punched in some numbers on her omni-tool and got in contact with Kaidan and Ashley.

"Major, what's up?"

"You guys still at Chora's Den?"

"No ma'am, a few minutes ago the bouncers came in and said that the bar had to close early. A lot of patrons were grumbling, but they pulled out shotguns, so everyone left. I don't know what's going on, but we lost Harkin in the mess. He just disappeared."

"See if you can scrounge up some thermal clips. We're raiding that bar, need to talk to the owner."

"Yes, ma'am. You find Vakarian?"

"Yeah. Apparently there's a krogan contact of his over at C-Sec who wants Fist bad. I figure we could use some extra support, and krogan are goddamned tough."

"Well, I guess we can always use our own personal battering ram."

"Meet us in the lower markets. We'll hit Fist hard and get what we need from him."

"Yes ma'am. What are we looking for?"

"A quarian. She's got the intel we need on Saren, according to Garrus."

"Roger that, ma'am. We'll be waiting."

Ferin cut the transmission and turned to Garrus, who was leaning against the wall. He raised a hand and pointed one of his three fingers at a large, angry looking krogan. Ferin's eyes narrowed. The krogan looked familiar, but she couldn't remember from where. Which was odd, because she had only met a few krogan in her life. Maybe he reminded her of a...turtle...or something. She shrugged, watching as he stuck his face in a human police officer's personal space, threatening the man. After a few minutes of posturing, the cops walked away. The krogan headed towards Ferin and Garrus, apparently intending to re-enter the wards, when Ferin stepped in his way.

"You looking for a fight, human?"

The krogan looked tough. Even for a krogan, he was big - although his head was seven and a half feet off the ground, his shoulder humps were maybe eight and a half feet tall. She figured he'd probably be around 2,000 pounds, maybe 2,500 in his armor. There were three vertical scars on the right side of his face, barely missing his eye. The krogan scowled - maybe, she couldn't read krogan facial expressions - as she stood in front of him.

"I hear you're looking for Fist."

"Yeah? You can tell Fist to stop sending mercs after me and just meet me in person."

"We're not mercs. We're looking for him too. We need to...interview him."

The krogan snorted. "Hah! Better do your interviewing fast then, human, because I will kill Fist."

"Well, we're going to need to shoot our way in to see him. We figured you might want to come along for the ride..."

"Hmph. So you and a police officer are going to just shoot your way into his office, huh? What happened to due process, officer? C-Sec tends to have an iron rod up its ass...and when it doesn't, it doesn't have the quad to act."

"I'm...resigning from C-Sec."

The krogan snorted. "My people have a saying. Look for the enemy of your enemy, and you will find a friend."

"Good saying. I'm Major Shepard, of the Alliance."

"Shepard. Hm. I've heard of you. You're a warrior. Hmm. I'll tell you what, Shepard. Out of respect - from one warrior to another - I'll let you have your talk with Fist. Right before I crush the miserable worm."

Garrus shrugged, behind the krogan. Shepard nodded, putting her hand out. The krogan's shook it, squeezing tightly enough that it felt like her bones were about to break.

"My name is Wrex. Let's go, Shepard."

"A couple other Alliance personnel are waiting for us in the markets. Then we'll kick down some doors."

"Whatever you say, Shepard. Just don't get in my way."

When they met Kaidan and Ashley, the two had grabbed assault rifles and put on their armor. They tossed Ferin an M-8 Avenger as she arrived, and handed out some thermal clips. Shepard looked closely at Ashley, who was moving stiffly.

"Ashley. How's your arms?"

"Broken. Ma'am. I'll be fine."

"I don't think so, Sergeant. Wait here."

Ashley protested. "Ma'am, you'll need me in there."

"We've got a krogan, a turian, the LT and me. We'll be fine, Ashley. But I need you in shape for action later, and shooting a rifle isn't going to help those breaks heal. Besides, we'll need someone watching our six, in case Fist has reinforcements"

"Ma'am, my bones are bonding fine. I'll be completely good as new in a couple weeks, tops."

"Ashley, if you aggravate those wounds, you'll be out of commission for at least a month."

"I was fine in that firefight with Saren's assassins."

"I would never have brought you along if I knew some thugs would try to kill us. I don't doubt that you've got the intestinal fortitude to fight, sergeant, but I don't want you doing it when you don't have to. Wait here. That's an order, sergeant."

After a moment, Ashley sighed, deactivating her Avenger and attaching it to the magnetic seals on the back of her armor.

"Fine, ma'am. You better let me in on the action as soon as I'm squared away, though."

"I promise, sergeant."

Kaidan spoke. "We scouted the bar while we were waiting. They're fortifying it, Shepard. They know we're coming."

"Alright, LT. Any suggestions?"

"Don't need a clever plan, Major. It's just a bunch of thugs. As long as we move fast and pick our shots well, they won't know what hit them. There's maybe thirty guards in there, but they don't seem to have any kind of real training."

"6 to 1 is still horrible odds."

"They don't have shields, Major. We'll cut through them like a knife through butter."

"A knife through what?" Wrex raised his...metal plate forehead thingie. Ferin assumed it was an inquisitive gesture.

"Butter. It's a human saying. It's easy to cut butter."

"Okay. Well, no time like the present, then." Garrus said, pulling a turian assault rifle off his back. Ferin recognized it as a Phaeston, the standard-issue for all turian military forces, as he activated the weapon and it expanded from its compact form. The krogan pulled a massive shotgun from his back, a weapon that wasn't familiar to her. He started to chuckle as he stroked the weapon, then popped a thermal clip into the weapon, making it ready to fire. With the nervous clench of impending battle in her stomach, Ferin activated her own rifle, popping a thermal clip in and locking the bolt forward as they headed out of the markets and for Chora's Den.

Outside the bar, in the little courtyard that they had fought Saren's assassins in earlier, there was complete stillness. They headed over to the door, Kaidan and Ashley watching their rear, while Wrex tried it.

"Hah. They think a locked door will keep us out."

Ferin looked over her shoulder, feeling uneasy. "Make it fast, Wrex."

She looked back at Wrex and saw him roar, a deafening sound that was louder than their guns, as he smashed his shoulder into the solid alloy door. Ferin stepped back reflexively, as he smashed it two more times, and the door gave way and shattered, the remaining portion of it retracting upwards like it would have if it had been unlocked. Wrex didn't halt with his momentum, instead just charging inside and bringing his shotgun to bear.

"Inside, now!"

Ferin followed him, already hearing gunfire from inside the bar, to see Wrex pick up a screaming salarian by his helmet and hurl him at the stripper pole in the middle of the bar. The salarian's lower back hit the pole with a crunch that sent green blood splattering across the pole and the ground. Ferin winced as Wrex unleashed another war cry and blasted a turian with his shotgun, sending the turian tumbling over a table, before she noted more bodyguards seeking cover and aiming at her. Working in concert with Garrus, Ashley, and Kaidan, they stuck to the left side of the bar, systematically killing the poorly-armed and unarmored thugs who were desperately trying to hold them off. The few rounds that hit them were simply bouncing off their kinetic shielding as they advanced relentlessly - the overturned tables in the cramped space did little to stop the bullets that the four operatives were firing from their military-grade weapons, and the thugs, who lacked military gene therapy and implants, had the disadvantage in the dark, poorly lit environment. Wrex, in the meantime, was devastating the right side of the bar, stomping on and smashing unfortunate thugs who got too close to him, and blasting the rest with his shotgun. When they reached the other end of the bar, Wrex chuckled.

"They didn't even put up a fight. I should have done this days ago!"

Ferin ignored him, opening a door whose guards were lying crumpled over each other several feet away and stepping through. Two warehouse workers raised fifty-year old pistols, their arms shaking.

"Don't come any closer! We'll shoot!"

Ferin rolled her eyes. "We just killed about fifty guards back there to get in here. What do you think we'll do to you?"

The workers looked at each other, then back at Ferin.

"Uh...uh..."

"Oh, fuck Fist. He doesn't pay us enough for this shit anyway!"

The two threw their pistols down and stepped to the side. As the five warriors continued through the corridor, Wrex noted that it would have been faster to kill the workers. Ferin just shrugged, although Garrus felt it necessary to discuss the morality of killing everything in sight.

They abruptly came upon Fist's office - a brightly lit room, with only a few tables, a few chairs, a couch, and two shelving cabinets filled with liquor. The man was standing in the middle, looking irritatingly smug. He had a military haircut, but an extremely ugly one, and was clean-shaven. He sighed as Wrex pointed his shotgun at him threateningly.

"I have to do everything myself, don't I?"

As he spoke, two turrets spun up from concealed compartments in the tables. The five dove for cover as bullets began flying into the corridor, ducking behind the walls beside the entrance to his office.

"I warned you to back off, Wrex!"

"Just chuck a grenade in there."

"We need him alive, Wrex!"

"Ugh. Got a better idea?"

"Just the one. Kaidan, give me a barrier."

Ferin concentrated, drawing on her L3 implants as she manipulated her biotics, focusing hard. She felt the barrier rising up around her as Kaidan drew on his own biotics, and stepped out into the stream of fire for a moment as she suddenly released the biotics and created a pair of singularities on opposite sides of the turret's barrel. Caught in the small singularity's gravitational fields, the barrel started to drag one way and the other and bent before the barrel snapped as bullets continued to fly from the turret. The weapon exploded a moment later as the singularities destabilized and the stop-ups in the barrel caused the heating system to malfunction. Focusing intensely, Ferin managed to send a warp field into the second turret before ducking back behind cover, just as Kaidan's barrier collapsed, less than three seconds after she'd leaned out. She swallowed thickly. Nothing ever prepared you for experiences like that - bullets flying all around you, and knowing that by all rights you should be dead. She shook her head and swung out into the room, pointing her weapon at Fist.

"Surrender, Fist. It's over."

The criminal scowled, looking at her and the other soldiers with a pistol in his hand, half raised.

"You'll be dead before you get a shot off, Fist."

"If I surrender, you can't kill me."

"If that gun isn't out of your hands in five seconds, I'll put a bullet in you."

Finally, the man reluctantly dropped his pistol. raising his hands.

"There. You can't shoot me, now."

Ferin quickly stepped forward, kicking the weapon to the side and shoving the man onto the ground, pulling his hands behind his back and placing her knee in the small of his back.

"Where's the quarian?"

"I don't know what you-"

She jerked his arm sharply upwards, causing him to cry out harshly.

"I don't have time for this. Garrus, put a round in his kneecaps, see if that makes him loosen up a bit."

"Wait! Wait! I don't know where the quarian is, but I know where she'll be."

"I'm listening."

"She came to me, she wanted to set up a meet with the Shadow Broker to sell him some info on a dirty Spectre. I've worked for him from time to time. I sent her to a meeting in a back alley behind the markets, but it's not the Shadow Broker's men there. The Spectre...persuaded me to help him out, and its his men who are waiting for her."

Ferin swore. "Where's the alley?"

"Look, it's the alley beside the volus' kiosk. If you take it, it bends into a curve and splits off in two directions - the eastern one is where the quarian is. If you hurry, you can make it."

"Alright. Everyone, let's mo-"

Ferin was interrupted as Wrex stepped forward, raised his shotgun, and blasted Fist in the side of the head. At the close range, the heavy shotgun pulped his skull into a mess, spattering blood mixed with bits of brain tissue and bone across the floor and Ferin's face, destroying the entire left half of Fist's head. The man had no time to even scream - one moment he saw Wrex raising his shotgun, the next, there was blood spurting from the exposed arteries in his neck. Ferin swore as she wiped her face, wiping the viscous mix off, while Garrus shouted at Wrex.

"What the fuck?"

"The Shadow Broker paid me to kill him. I don't leave jobs half done."

"We don't shoot unarmed prisoners!"

"Whatever. We have bigger things to worry about."

Kaidan glanced at the Major. "Ma'am, we need to get to that quarian. She's going to be in trouble."

Ferin spat out some of the blood that had gotten in her mouth with disgust as she stood, bringing her Avenger to the ready.

"Let's go." Kaidan ran out of the room, followed by the others, jumping over bodies as they departed the bar. Upon seeing them running, Ashley, who was waiting at the entrance to the alley, didn't hesitate, but simply joined in, falling in behind Kaidan. _I hope this quarian can hold her own_, Ferin thought as they sprinted through the market, drawing the startled yells of pedestrians as they shoved their way through the crowds. They reached the alley Fist had talked about, adrenaline pumping through their blood. Ferin had a feeling of dread. With the crowds, it had taken too long to get there - minutes, which were as good as hours if the quarian had gotten in a fight in close quarters in a cramped alleyway. They found the fork and turned to the east, before Kaidan, out in front, suddenly skidded to a halt, followed by the others.

"Fuck."

There was a bloodbath in front of them, with about a dozen bodies lying sprawled across the small alleyway. There was a young woman, with black hair cascading loosely down her back and wearing a skin-tight white outfit out of some synthetic material. She had an SMG drawn, with the quarian they were looking for crouched beside her, holding a civilian version of the Katana shotgun in her hands. When the woman saw them, she shouted in a thick Australian accent.

"Get down! There's more hostiles!"

The five quickly ran to the crate, ducking down behind it. Ferin glanced at the woman.

"Who are you? What are you doing with the quarian?"

"My name's...Oriana Smith. I ran into a fight while I was cutting through the alley. Looked like a bunch of thugs were trying to rob this quarian, so I thought I'd try to help."

Ferin glanced at her with some skepticism - the woman had hesitated too long when giving them her name, but shrugged.

"I'm Major Shepard with the Alliance." She looked at the quarian. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Good. So where are the other hostiles?"

The woman...Oriana...leaned out, looking around.

"They might have run off when they saw you com-"

She interrupted her comment to swing the SMG up and fire off a long burst, before ducking back behind the crate. Shepard noticed that she was using an Alliance model, and more surprisingly, an N7 model weapon - the Hurricane. _Who the hell is this woman? _N7 weapons were extremely tightly controlled. No one without an N7 rating was allowed to use them, given the prototype technology - even more advanced than turian weapons - and their potential to cause death in well-trained hands. Given the small amount of people who made it to N7 - an average of 70 every year received the coveted rating, and there were only around 10,000 active N7 operators in the three branches - it was highly unlikely that the other woman was another N7, as Ferin would at least know her name. But it was a mystery she would have to resolve later. She peeked out over the top of the crate to see three fresh bodies that had been mowed down by the 10mm rounds that Oriana had sprayed at them. It looked like there were only one or two more enemies; Ferin quickly activated her tactical cloak and slipped forward to make sure of it, tapping Oriana on the shoulder to make sure she was aware that she was moving. As she reached the top of the stairs, she saw three mercenaries, huddled close to each other behind cover.

"Fuck, man, that turian ain't paying us enough for this shit. He said all we'd have to take out was some random quarian bitch, not fucking commandos and fucking Alliance soldiers and fucking C-Sec cops."

"That quarian wasn't even goddamn defenseless. She killed Hayrick and Decimus with that grenade before that bitch just appeared out of nowhere."

"Did you see the krogan? We should fucking bail. Saren lied to us, that quarian has goddamn connections and allies."

"Let's get ou-"

As the third, a turian, spoke, Ferin swung her omnitool out, flash-forging a blade out of it and suspending it in a magnetic field off of her skin. The mixture of diamond and iron was almost translucent, covered with the distinctive orange glow of an omnitool so that it was visible for her to guide it, and she had customized it to have an electric current running along it to give it an edge against kinetic barriers. A moment later, she swung the omni-blade down, her cloak dissipating as the blade stabbed the turian between his neck and his shoulder. He cried out as she yanked the glowing blade out of him, and collapsed, blue blood spraying from the wound as he desperately tried to staunch the bleeding with his hand. Ferin ignored him, firing six rounds from the pistol in her left hand into the human who had spoken at first, and swinging the omni-blade out into the other human's hand as he tried to raise his SMG. The omni-blade severed three of his fingers and slashed his SMG in half, causing him to fall back, howling in pain and grabbing the stump. A moment later, Ferin stepped forward and drove her omni-blade through his throat, almost decapitating him with the thrust. She pulled the omni-tool back out and allowed her blade to fold back into the device as the orange glow around her hand disappeared. The turian had passed out, and was probably already dead. The others would soon follow. She stepped over the turian's body and rejoined her team, the quarian, and the mysterious human.

"Well-done, Shepard."

"Do I know you?"

"No, but everyone knows you. I must be on my way, now."

"Wait. I have a lot of questions for you."

"Surely you're more concerned about the quarian."

In truth, the quarian was more important, although Shepard was still suspicious of the strange woman. She shook her head.

"Ashley, Kaidan, make sure she doesn't leave." She turned to the quarian. The alien was dressed in a full-body exosuit, like any of her other people. They were rare sights in the galaxy, and often treated like second-class citizens, because of their history. She had decorated her exosuit with purple cloth, and most of her armor was in various shades of purple. Ferin couldn't see the quarian's face through her faceplate, and everything the woman said was processed through her suit, resulting in an odd-sounding voice, though it was hard to describe. The most striking thing for Ferin about the quarians was that their legs bent like hooves, ending in feet with three wide toes. The quarian was slender, only a few inches taller than Ferin and, and the way she carried herself seemed...innocent. Young. Aside from the civilian shotgun she was holding - an inefficient model that generated an immense amount of heat every time it was fired - she had an old pistol on her hip. Kessler Fabrications, looked like an S-44, a model that had been discontinued two years ago.

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, I'm fine. Thank you, for your help. Um, who are you? I'm Tali. Erm, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"My name is Shepard. I'm with the Alliance. What happened?"

"Fist betrayed me. I knew I shouldn't have trusted that bosh'tet! I was supposed to meet with the Shadow Broker, but those thugs were here instead. If that human hadn't come along, I'd probably be dead right now."

Wrex laughed. "You wanted to meet the Shadow Broker face-to-face? Impossible. Even I was hired through an agent."

She shrugged and continued. "After I was nearly assassinated earlier, I thought maybe he could protect me from Saren. I found some pretty damning evidence against him."

"That's why I'm here. I was on Eden Prime when Saren and his geth attacked. We're looking for evidence to discredit him to the Council."

"Then I can repay you for helping me."

"What's the evidence you have against him?"

"An audio recording. I can show it to you once we reach safety. We're too exposed here."

"Fair enough. But give me a minute, I need to talk with your mysterious rescuer."

Ferin turned to the black-haired woman, who was tapping her foot impatiently, her arms crossed. With a chance to examine her more closely, Ferin noticed that her equipment - all of it - was military-grade. The woman, standing around 5'9", and probably around 140 pounds, was in a skin-tight black and white outfit revealing a large amount of cleavage. Up close, Ferin could identify the material as a synthetic weave from Hahne-Kedar, bullet, tear, and knife resistant, but lightweight and flexible - it was the same as the underweave on her own N7 armor. She had a belt around her hips, apparently just serving as an accessory. There was ceramic plating on her knees and elbows, and her boots had the Aldrin Labs symbol on them. Eying her outfit critically, Ferin had to say it made the woman look cute, if a little slutty. Her weapon, the N7 Hurricane, was very suspicious in Ferin's eyes, in addition to the other weapon she carried - another N7 variant, the same pistol that Ferin carried.

"Where did you get your weapons?"

"A friend. Look, Shepard, I'm a busy woman. I stopped to help a quarian in need of help, but I have other obligations to fulfill."

"Just give me a minute of your time. N7 weapons aren't available to anyone except N7 personnel. So where'd you get yours?"

"Connections. It's not illegal for me to have them here."

"Not here, maybe, but in Alliance space, it is."

"We're not in Alliance space."

Ferin narrowed her eyes. "Who are you, really?"

"I told you, Oriana Sm-"

"Your real name. It's obvious that one's a fake. Which brings to mind other questions, like why you gave me a fake name."

The woman sighed. "Look, Shepard. I work for - the Alliance, and my CO wanted me to help you."

"Who's your CO?"

"I can't say. They wanted me to help, so I saved the quarian for you."

"So are you a part of the Alliance or just a merc?"

"I'm looking out for humanity's best interests, just like you."

Shepard frowned. "And what's your name?"

After a moment of deliberation, the woman opened her mouth to speak, then halted, looking down at her omni-tool as it alerted her of a received message. She read the message, then nodded.

"My name is Miranda Lawson, Major. I'm an operator in an organization whose interests are the same as yours. We want to see humanity furthered and defended."

"And you can't tell me about this organization."

"No, I'm sorry, Shepard. But I'm coming with you."

"Um, what?"

"You can always use more help, can't you? I'm a trained infiltrator, and I have biotics."

"Look, um...Ms. Lawson, I can't just take random people with me."

Miranda pointedly looked behind Ferin, who looked behind her to see Garrus, Wrex, and Tali.

"That's completely different."

"And how is that?"

"They wanted to help."

"I do too."

"Only because you were ordered to."

Miranda shrugged. "I was going to shadow you previously to give you a hand if necessary. This way is a lot simpler."

Ferin looked at her. "Okay, first off, I don't know who you are. I don't know who you work for. I don't know what you want. You're a civilian, so I can't accept your help anyway. And lastly, my mission involves travelling on board one of the most advanced vessels in the galaxy. You're not coming with us."

Miranda shook her head. "I'll see you on board the Normandy, Shepard."

She walked off, leaving everyone too taken aback to speak. Finally, Kaidan cleared his throat.

"Um, Shepard, what the hell just happened?"

"I don't know. She's some lunatic."

"An incredibly hot lunatic," Kaidan muttered under his breath. Ashley punched him in the shoulder.

"Hey!"

"Of course the fact that she works for some shadow organization that claims to be working for humanity's best interests doesn't concern you. No, the swimsuit she's wearing is what you're paying attention to."

Ferin shook her head. "Let's just go find Ambassador Udina."

Upon entering Udina's office, he immediately went into a rant.

"Firefights in the Wards, Shepard? An all-out assault on a civilian bar? Do you know the kind of trouble you're causing me? I'll be spending weeks cleaning up the political fallout from th-" He cut off, as he noticed the aliens with her. "A turian? A krogan? A quarian? What are you up to, Shepard?"

Ferin held up a hand, shaking her head. "If you'd given me a chance to say something before you jumped down my throat, maybe I could have explained."

He frowned. "I'm...sorry, Shepard. This whole thing with Saren has me on edge. Now, if you could explain?"

"This quarian has evidence against Saren. The reason there were firefights was because Saren is trying to assassinate her."

"I see. Maybe we should start from the beginning, Ms..."

"Tali'Zorah. Nar Rayya."

"Where did you acquire the evidence you found?" Anderson, who had been pouring himself a glass of whiskey on the other side of the room, had set down the bottle and come over as soon as he heard "evidence against Saren."

"I was on my Pilgrimage-"

Ferin raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry. A pilgrimage?"

"It's a rite of passage among my people. When we come of age, we are sent out alone into the stars to find something that will be useful to the flotilla. A new ship, new parts, new technology, it can be anything as long as it helps with our way of living. It proves that we will contribute to the fleet and worthy of being adults."

Udina glared at Ferin. "I apologize for the interruption, Ms. nar Rayya. Please, continue."

"Oh, nar Rayya isn't my surname. It just means that the Rayya is the ship that I serve on. My family name is Zorah."

"My apologies, Ms. Zorah."

"Anyway, I was on my Pilgrimage when I encountered a geth patrol. I was curious - I'd never seen a geth before, and they never leave the Perseus Veil - so I investigated. I followed them to an uncharted planet and ambushed a patrol."

Shepard interrupted again. "You couldn't just wait for one to break off?"

Tali shook her head. "No, geth don't break off. It's part of how they're programmed - they get smarter, the more of them there are in one place, and so they remain nearby each other to maximize their neural network."

"Shepard, stop interrupting."

"Sorry, Ambassador."

"As I was saying, I ambushed a patrol and investigated the bodies. I managed to salvage one's memory core-"

Shepard spoke again. "M.I. - Military Intelligence - say that the geth self-destruct their memory cores when they shut down. That's why we couldn't get any information from Eden Prime."

"My people built the geth, Shepard. If you're quick enough, if you're careful enough, you can extract some information from the cores. As I extracted...this:"

She typed on her omni-tool, bringing up the audio log. A moment later, Saren's voice rang through the room.

"Eden Prime was a major victory! Finding the Prothean beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

Ferin frowned as Saren's voice ended. "What's the Conduit?"

Anderson shook his head. "Knowing Saren, it's probably a weapon - something he can use to wipe out all of humanity!"

"Don't you think you're getting a little exaggerated with Saren? Not everything has to be about humanity, Captain."

"You don't know Saren, Shepard. He lost his brother in the First Contact War. He hates us, hates us more than he hates anything in the galaxy."

Ferin shrugged. Udina, who looked deep in thought, spoke. "It doesn't matter what the Conduit is. This is irrefutable proof that Saren was behind Eden Prime. The Council cannot ignore this."

"Wait, there's more," Tali said. "He wasn't acting alone." She typed on her omni-tool some more, replaying the log.

"Eden Prime was a major victory! Finding the Prothean beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

A female's voice answered him. "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

Ferin sighed, rubbing her temples. "What's a Reaper?"

"I believe I can answer that," Tali said. "According to the geth's memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago, along with the Protheans. The geth...seem to believe that the Reapers eradicated the Protheans and then vanished, no one knows where. The geth appear to consider them to be gods."

"Wait...that vision on Eden Prime...I understand it now. I saw...I wasn't able to make sense of it, but part of it was ships, destroying cities and sentients. I must have seen the Reapers destroying the Protheans - the beacon must have been a warning to the rest of the Protheans that was never activated."

Udina frowned, rubbing his eyes. "Why is Saren trying to bring them back? If they destroyed the Protheans before, who's to say they wouldn't destroy the galaxy again?"

"I don't know. But we'd better bring this to the Council's attention."

"You're right. I'll schedule a meeting with them for this afternoon. And, Major?"

"Yes, Ambassador?"

"...good work. But please...for the sake of the Alliance...don't conduct any more investigations on the Citadel."

"Yes, Ambassador."


	3. Chapter 3: The Matriarch's Daughter

Author's Note: No, I don't write this fast. I had a lot written out before I actually started publishing on the site. Anyway, here's another 13,000 words. Things will probably start diverging a bit from the ME1 storyline soon - fleshing out backstory, different events, etc, although the big things will remain the same - milestone missions, that is. I have a lot of notes planned out, although in the near future I'll be losing most of my free time.

Endrius: I tend to put a lot of detail into things, it's just a tendency. Comes from my job, I guess, details are important. I like to make sure things are right. Thanks for the encouragement! Miranda's one of my favorite characters, for a lot of reasons (not just the outfit :P), but I intend to develop her personality and make her a lot more complex than she was in the games. Same really goes for all the main characters in the game, though. I can't say there was a single squadmate I disliked or didn't want to see more of, through all three games.

* * *

The meeting with the Council went as expected. They backtracked, didn't apologize, denied that they had been in the wrong, then revoked Saren's Spectre status. More surprising was the outcome - Ferin had taken the Spectre's Oath and become a member of the Citadel's Office of Special Tactics and Recon. As a Council Spectre, Ferin now had access to any Citadel database and any information in Council Space, as well as enormous flexibility in everything she did; laws no longer applied to her. More nebulous was her standing in the Alliance, as she now had two loyalties; the Systems Alliance and the Citadel. Her first mission, as charged by the Council, was to find Saren - somewhere in the Traverse, the area of the galaxy that lay between Council space and the Terminus Systems, which did not recognize the authority of the Council - and arrest or kill him. For the time being, there was no conflict between her loyalties, as Captain Anderson had passed down orders from Admiral Hackett, the current commander of N7 Special Warfare, to hunt down Saren. Tali had insisted on accompanying them, arguing that she was morally obligated to assist and that her Pilgrimage was about "showing that she was willing to give of herself for the greater good". If Saren was trying to bring back the Reapers, she had to help. As for Wrex, he had decided to accompany them, as long as he had rights to loot, remarking that Saren and the geth would be "one hell of a fight." Ferin had asked Garrus to stay with them; the C-Sec officer had proven his mettle and combat abilities on the Citadel, and had left C-Sec anyway. He had agreed without hesitation, saying that he looked forward to working with a Spectre and no rules for a change.

"It's too bad about Captain Anderson," Kaidan remarked. "One failed mission and he gets his ship taken away."

"That's politics for you. And that's one reason why I'm always going to stay enlisted. Commissioned officers get to play politics and fall on their swords when there's a screw-up. Me, I just have to shoot anyone I'm ordered to," Ashley said. "Still, at least you've got your own ship now, skipper."

"Skipper? Thought you were Army."

"Hey, if I'm going to be stuck on a boat filled with seamen like the LT, I might as well embrace it."

"It's...sailor, Ash. And I'm a Marine."

"Seamen. You're all seamen, in white, gushy uniforms."

He sighed as Ferin tried not to laugh. "So, where to, Commander?"

The new title was a technicality; she was now the commanding officer of the Normandy SR-1. Although she was technically Army, all soldiers were cross-trained in basic starship maintainance. She was familiar with starship combat, as well; tactics and strategies for it had been part of her five years of N7 training. While she still specialized in ground warfare, she had been given a rank in the Alliance Navy to make it official. At the same time, she'd been notified of a promotion. Apparently getting Spectre status had been a cause for celebration; she had been promoted to O-5, Lieutenant Colonel. Command had shuffled around trying to figure out a way to put her in command of the Normandy, and eventually just gave her a Navy rank. Although it was still breaking regulation in that you couldn't be in two branches at the same time...apparently it was easier than filing other paperwork? The bureaucracy really just gave her a headache, so she didn't think about it. Regardless, her rank in the Alliance Navy was Commander, the equivalent rank to Lieutenant Colonel.

"We'd better head out. The Council, at least, gave us some decent tips. I'd like to see what this Dr. T'Soni's up to, and what she can tell us about her mother."

"I think Feros should be the priority, colonel. If the geth are attacking..."

"True. That report came from three days ago, though. I doubt the colony's still intact, or that the geth are still there. Eden Prime was garrisoned with trained Alliance soldiers, and it took the geth less than six hours to complete their mission. Feros isn't an Alliance colony - at the most, they've got a some hired security."

"We should still investigate."

"Dr. T'Soni first. I don't want her disappearing before we can catch up to her."

"Well, your call, ma'am."

"Let's get back to the Normandy and start moving. Longer we take here, the longer Saren has to get further away."

"Aye aye, ma'am."

Upon their return to the Normandy, Joker greeted Ferin while Kaidan headed to the crew quarters and Ashley went down to the armory.

"There's the new commander! Congratulations. We're finally getting you out of that horrible Army and into the winner's club."

"Yeah, yeah, Joker. First it's getting a naval rank, then it's turning into a gigantic POG."

"Soft beds, warm food, no danger, what's not to love? Too bad about Captain Anderson, though. Thirty years of service and he gets grounded for one jacked up mission. Anyway, we're ready to cast off whenever you say, ma'am."

"Give me the intercom. I want to address the crew."

"Aye aye, ma'am."

He handed her the intercom. After a moment, she spoke.

"This is Col-Commander Shepard speaking."

After a moment, she decided to use her Naval rank. Most of the crew were sailors, and she figured it couldn't hurt to make herself sound more like one of them. There had always been a little bit of a divide between her and the crew before Eden Prime, just because of the variations in branches - same large culture, different sub-cultures - that divide needed to go away, now that she was actually in command.

"Out there, somewhere, is Saren. He is planning to bring death to millions of souls. In here is us. We are the only thing standing between him and destruction. This is the most important mission any of us have ever been on. For too long, humanity has stood apart from our peers - the turians, the asari, the salarians, the quarians, the krogan, even the hanar and the drell, the volus and elcor, even the batarians. It is time for humanity to step up and show the galaxy our mettle. We cannot allow past divisions to allow us to stand apart now. We must rely on one another. Even now, some of you are wondering - there's a turian on board our ship, a quarian, a krogan? What are they doing here? They don't belong here. And I say to you now, it does not matter what species we are. They are our brothers and sisters, and are fighting alongside us to bring a madman who committed crimes against humanity to justice. The path will be perilous. The galaxy is wide and Saren could be hiding anywhere. But we will find him. We will drag him into the light and we will defeat him and his army of geth. Prepare to cast off. Shepard out."

"Good speech, ma'am. Captain Anderson would be proud."

"Not if we don't catch Saren. Get the Normandy moving, Joker. Set a course for Artemis Tau."

"Roger that, ma'am. Oh, by the way, Commander, we've got a new crew member. A...Ms. Lawson?"

Ferin stopped dead in her tracks. "What."

"Hang on. There's a transmission from a...Brigadier General Petrovsky. I'll route it to the conference room, ma'am."

Ferin walked to the conference room, questions in her head and more than a little irritation. She arrived at the conference room to see an Alliance Marine general, with one star on his chest, projected in the middle of the room. When he saw her, he spoke in Russian.

"Ah, good evening, Colonel Shepard."

She saluted, returning the greeting of the day in his native language. After he returned her salute, she opened her mouth to speak. He interrupted before she could start speaking, though.

"No doubt you have many questions about Major Lawson."

"Pardon, sir?"

"Major. You are familiar with the rank of Major, yes? I would hope so, since you were a Major three days ago."

"Sir, I don't know if you're awa-"

"Just let me speak, Colonel. Suffice it to say she's an old friend of mine, from Torfan. She requested transfer to your ship after you were inducted as the first human Council Spectre. Congratulations, by the way, for both your new position and your promotion."

"I...thank you sir, but I-"

"I am sure that you will make her feel welcome. She's an excellent officer, highly promising."

"General, why is she onboard the Normandy?"

"Because I ordered you to have her on the Normandy, of course," the man said mildly. "Any further questions, colonel?"

"Are you aware that she claims to be working for some organization that wants to further humanity?"

"Colonel. She's been assigned to the Normandy as your XO."

"With respect, sir, my XO is LC Pressly."

"Are you in the habit of defying orders normally, lieutenant colonel?"

"No sir."

"Good. Lawson's a good Marine. Keep her in the loop. Petrovsky out."

The general cut the transmission, leaving Ferin standing in the middle of the conference room, frustrated. _Who the fuck is this woman?_

She returned to the helm of the ship, where Joker was preparing to depart.

"Joker, where'd you send Major Lawson?"

"Crew quarters, ma'am. About the aliens, ma'am?"

"What is it."

"Um...we're not sure where to bunk them, Commander. We don't have enough beds, and the krogan would break any of our beds."

"Put in requisition orders or something. They can stay in the cargo bay and armory for now."

"Er...yes ma'am. Navigator Pressly took the liberty of placing your equipment up in Captain Anderson's old quarters."

"Yeah."

Joker turned back to the controls, wisely sensing the fury pouring off of his commanding officer. Ferin turned, heading back out of the bridge, taking the elevator up to her room. She wanted to know more about this Lawson. When she stepped into her new quarters, she noticed two things.

First, the room was fairly spacious. There was a wardrobe, a double bed, two nightstands, a sound system, an alarm clock, a desk, and a computer, and still enough room to comfortably move around in. Anderson had moved his stuff out of the room; there was a note on the table, as well as a bottle of whiskey - it looked like Captain Anderson had gotten her a bottle of her favorite whiskey as a welcoming present. Her own equipment was in a footlocker that had been placed in front of the bed, and it looked as though all her uniforms and clothing had already been placed in the wardrobe. There was also a private bathroom, although it was very small. The bathroom was built with the entire floor acting as a meshed drain, with a sink beside the door, a toilet directly next to it, and a shower on the wall next to the door, with no partition or separation between the shower and the rest of the room.

The second thing she noticed was that there was a black-haired woman in a white and black outfit lounging in the chair next to her computer, holding two shot glasses that were filled with sparkling dark amber liquids.

"What the fuck are you doing in my quarters, Lawson?"

"I thought you'd like to talk, Major...or, actually, it's Colonel now, isn't it? Or perhaps you'd prefer Commander. Congratulations."

Ferin just looked at her. Miranda offered her one of the shot glasses, but Ferin made no move to take it. After a moment, the intruder sighed and downed one of the shot glasses, setting the empty glass down on the table.

"Good whiskey. You have excellent taste. Jack Daniels, Special Black Label, number 14 blend. Made on Elysium. Happens to be my favorite type as well. Not like the piss they make on Elgina or Benning."

"What do you want, major?"

"No doubt you're angry that I'm accompanying you."

"Angry? No, not at all," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Look, Colonel. I'm here to help you. I'm sure you were here to look up my record. So I'll save you the time, now, and then you can ask me questions later if you want. I'm part of the Systems Alliance Marine Corps, obviously. I'm with a black ops outfit, Cerberus. That's the organization I was discussing with you earlier - we've got top-secret clearance and full access to all Alliance activities."

"And you couldn't just tell me that earlier?"

"Cerberus is top-secret, Shepard. Not even most Generals and Admirals are aware of us. We recruit from all three branches and operate in compartmentalized cells. I don't know what other cells do, I don't know how many of us there are, I don't even know everything that happens in my cell."

"Go on."

"My boss has had his eye on you for quite some time. You're a legend among the Alliance, Shepard. He'd been hoping he'd have an opportunity to recruit you since the events on Akuze, certainly after the Skyllian Blitz. But when we saw the chatter about the events on Eden Prime, he decided he wanted an operator on scene to assist you. So here I am."

"So here you are."

"Yes."

"What's so special about Cerberus?"

"We're a lot like...well, the Spectres, to be honest. Command is very hands-off, and we're authorized to do what is necessary."

"What's Cerberus' mission?"

"The advancement of humanity. We operate in the same capacity as...well, the salarians has the Special Tasks Groups. The Council has the Spectres. The asari have their legendary commandoes for stealth and sabotage missions. We're humanity's answer."

"What kind of training do you have?"

"I'm a biotic and I have plenty of training in the use of firearms. N7, actually. I won't be a burden, Shepard. I can haul my own weight."

"We'll see. N7? When'd you graduate N-school?"

"Two months ago. Cerberus took me out of field operations to go."

"I haven't heard of you. How'd you rate?" The question, among N7s, referred to what they'd done to qualify as N7 from N6. There was no special training between N6 and N7 - the operators either had to demonstrate incredible combat ability in actual combat, or engaged in the most punishing field exercise, held on a different planet each year, in the entire Alliance. They were told that if they were "killed", they were disqualified from receiving the N7 rating, but also given a speech on the N7's creed and the mantra of always placing the mission first. The catch was that to receive the rating, you had to sacrifice yourself to save either another candidate or complete the objective - the instructors wanted a demonstration that an N7 was willing to sacrifice everything to complete the mission, even a rating that they had spent years training to attain. They were then broken into the same organization as live N7 teams, each one a specialization of the specialized training each infantryman received after basic training. There were 2 Furies, specializing in biotics; 2 Destroyers, the weapons experts; 2 Demolishers, their combat engineers; 2 Paladins, whose job was to fix the enemy and draw fire; 2 Shadows, who were snipers and infiltrators, and 2 Slayers, whose job was to scout ahead and provide intelligence. Each team of prospective N7s were then dropped on the planet of the year, and pitted against each other in several months of continuous combat exercises. It was one of the largest field training exercises in the Alliance, with thousands of support personnel on the planet who acted out the roles of mercenaries, rogue terrorists, enemy soldiers, and civilian population.

"Earned it in the swamps of Pragia. Dove on a grenade and saved my detachment commander as well as my detachment."

"Hmph. What's this about you being my XO?"

"I suppose exactly what it sounds like."

Ferin sighed. "I don't trust you, Lawson."

"No doubt. Perhaps I can earn your trust, Shepard. Over time." She saluted. After a moment, Ferin returned the salute, then took the full shot glass that Miranda was still holding, downing it in one gulp. As her new XO stood up and started to head out, Ashley burst into the room.

"Colonel, why is that slut from the Cita-"

She stopped as she saw Miranda standing in front of her. Miranda cocked and eyebrow and said, with mild amusement, "Hello, sergeant."

"I...uh...hello..."

Ferin sighed. "Ashley, Lawson here is accompanying us on our mission. She's our new XO."

"I...yes, ma'am."

"Lawson, excuse us for a moment, please."

"Certainly, Shepard."

Miranda casually strolled past Ashley, leaving and taking the elevator down.

"Shepard, what the hell?"

"I know, Ashley. A general had her transferred. Direct order is to make her feel welcome. But...we had a talk. She seems less...well. I guess at least she seems more...less...I don't know. She's here, we have to deal with it."

"What? Are you kidding me?"

"She's Alliance, like us, Ashley. She's a-"

"Slut."

Ferin sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Major. The word I was looking for was Major. Not slut."

"She might be a major slut."

"Ashley, you're not making this easier. She's assigned to a black ops unit. Cerberus. I think I've heard of them from time to time, although nothing in the last couple years. That's the organization she was talking about before. And she's an N7, apparently."

Ashley scoffed. "Oh please. No way she's N7, she'd be too afraid of getting her pretty white outfit dirty or breaking a nail."

"Ashley, calm down. Why do you dislike her so much, anyway?"

"I know her type, Shepard. She probably slept her way to her rank."

"Is it just her outfit you object to, sergeant?"

"Ma'am, we wear armor into battle. Not swimsuits."

"Look, sergeant. She's my new XO. She's an Alliance Marine - yes, they're doing all kinds of weird ship with a Navy ship under a soldier's command with a Marine as XO. Try and be nice. There's nothing we can do about it."

Grinding her teeth, Ashley finally nodded.

"Fine, ma'am. She's going to get us killed, though. Probably doesn't know anything about actual combat."

"Is there anything else, Ashley?"

"Yeah. Actually, a couple. What do you want me to do on the ship?"

"What were you doing before?"

"The Captain put me in command of the armory. Gunnery Chief, ma'am."

"Are you good at it and do you enjoy it?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Then keep being Gunnery Chief."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And the other?"

"Um...well..." Her rage dissipated a little. "Ma'am, I was wondering...is it a good idea to have all these aliens on board?"

"What do you mean, Ash?"

"Well...a turian, a quarian, a krogan...this is one of the most advanced ships in the entire galaxy. Top-secret Alliance technology is on-board. Yeah, the turians might already know all of it since they helped develop it, but the quarians and the krogan?"

Ferin raised an eyebrow. "You've done your research on this ship, Ash."

"Well..it was big news when the Normandy was developed. And I always wanted to serve on a frigate or a cruiser. Being on the Normandy is...a really good change of pace, even though it came at the cost of...well, it's nice being a part of the first stealth frigate in the galaxy."

"Hmm. You don't trust Tali and Wrex?"

"It's not that I don't trust them, skipper. It's that...humanity has to stand on its own in the galaxy. We've seen that time and time again. We're second-rate compared to the other races. And...well, I just don't think it's a good idea to give them free rein around the ship."

Ferin waited. After a moment of silence, Ashley kept talking uncomfortably. "Well, it's...it's not racism, not really. I mean, they're whole different species. It's like...if you're out for a walk in the woods with your dog and you run into a bear, and the only way for you to escape is to sic your dog on it and run, you're going to do it. No matter how much you love your dog, it's not human."

"So, the aliens are expendable?"

"Oh, God. I know I sound...I'm not saying...I'm just saying that we never know when the Citadel races might turn on us. Just because they're our allies now doesn't mean that when they're backed into a corner, they'll turn around. To them, we're the dog."

"These sound like pretty deeply held beliefs, Ash. Where'd they come from?"

"My family's always served in the Alliance, colonel. My father, his father, my grand-uncle, my great-grandmother, my great-great-grandmother and her husband...we just tend to look out for Earth's interests as our own, ma'am."

"And you don't suppose Earth would be stronger if stood with our allies?"

"Of course, ma'am, but our allies aren't always going to be allies."

"We have to trust them. An alliance is meaningless if the parties don't trust each other. The Systems Alliance wouldn't still be standing if the United States and the People's Republic, or the Russian Federation and the European Union, or any of the powers on Earth, were all still expecting each other to stab one another in the back."

"I know, ma'am. I'm just worried, is all."

"That's alright, Ash. Trust me. The aliens will be fine."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Now, is there anything else...?"

"No, ma'am."

"Alright. Dismissed, Chief."

Ashley saluted, then turned and walked out, after Ferin returned the salute, leaving Ferin alone with her thoughts. Her gaze fell on the bottle of whiskey Captain Anderson had left her and that Miranda had opened._ Thanks, sir. Just what I need, _she thought as she reached for it. _And thanks for the shot glasses, Major._

* * *

Ferin awoke to Joker's voice over the intercom. "Ma'am, we'll be arriving in the Artemis Tau cluster in around three hours. Navigator Pressly tells me that there's four probable systems that Dr. T'Soni could be in, based on the number of Prothean ruins. Knossos, Athens, Sparta, and Macedon. He's still narrowing it down."

"Alright, Joker. Thanks."

"No problem, ma'am. You sound a little off, Commander."

"Just tired, lieutenant. That'll be all."

"Okay, ma'am."

She sighed, rolling over and sitting up on the bed. She couldn't sleep well on it, or maybe it made her sleep too well. It was too...soft. She was having a hard time throwing off sleep, but she stood up and wandered over to her private computer terminal, firing up the holographic display and checking her email. She found several messages marked urgent. The first was from a Rear Admiral Kahoku who wanted her to go find some Marines that had gotten lost. She laughed to herself. Typical Marines. LT gets them lost and they can't get themselves found again. She shrugged and moved on. The next was from Admiral...Hackett? Just seeing the name made the soldier straighten, her posture becoming more formal. The man was a legend in the Alliance, and was the commander of the entire special operations command of the combined three branches. He'd enlisted as a private before the First Contact War, been commissioned as an officer during action against the turians, and eventually made his way to a full admiral. His message was very short, with an attachment.

_LTC Shepard,_

_Congratulations on your promotion and your Spectre status. Make us proud out there. Your new commissions are attached. If you have time, report to the Skyllian Verge. I could use your help out there.  
_

_Hackett  
_

She opened up the attachment to print out her new commission, reading it first. She hadn't been promoted in a long time, but it always brought her a special thrill - a feeling of accomplishment - when she was promoted.

_Official Document - President of the Parliament of the Systems Alliance_

_She who bears this document has had special trust and faith placed in her diligence, honor, integrity, patriotism, and abilities by the government of the Systems Alliance. Recognizing these traits, Ferin Elysia Shepard is therefore appointed by authority of the President of the Parliament of the Systems Alliance as Lieutenant Colonel in the Army of the Systems Alliance, to rank as such from this 27th Day of the 12th Month of the Year 2173 by the Solar Calendar. Until such time as she is relieved of duty, she will faithfully and diligently discharge the duties of the office to which she has been elevated._

_The Parliament does order all officers and other service members of lesser rank to render such obedience to this officer as is befitting her grade and position, and does order this officer to acknowledge and obey the orders of the Parliament of the Systems Alliance, or the lawful orders of those officers superior to her in rank.  
_

_This commission will remain in force until such time that the Parliament of the Systems Alliance no longer requires the services of the officer.  
_

_By my Orders,  
_

_Anastasia Petrovna Mendelev  
_

_President of the Parliament of the Systems Alliance  
_

A second commission, identical in wording, except with the words "Lieutenant Colonel" replaced with "Commander" and "Army" replaced with "Navy", was attached as well. Ferin had the orders printed - every ship in the Alliance was equipped with the necessary equipment to print orders and commissions, so that ships didn't have to travel thousands of lightyears for every promotion - then moved on to the third message.

Finally, the third message was from some spam company that was selling gene therapy for penis enhancement. Ferin rolled her eyes. The change from the official document - an important achievement - to some random spam mail almost made her laugh. _How the hell do these spam companies still target the wrong audience? We have advertisements that DNA scan and specifically tailor their ads to each person who walks past, and they still manage to try to convince me that I need a dick._ She deleted the message, then decided to take a quick shower and change into her usual N7 hoodie ensemble, heading to the lower decks.

Upon reaching the crew deck, she ran into Kaidan, who was busy making himself a meal in the ship's personal kitchen. He was wearing the casual Marine BDU that he'd been wearing when they'd gone searching for Fist on the Citadel.

"Commander. Good to see you."

"What's up, Kaidan?"

"Not much." He glanced over at the tables where the crew ate. Miranda was sitting there, reading a datapad and eating a snack. The woman was actually casually dressed - instead of the jumpsuit she'd been wearing earlier, she was wearing a pair of casual trousers, a low-cut blouse, and a pair of running shoes.

"I wanted to show you something. Over there in the main battery."

"Alright."

They headed through the door into the maintenance room for the ship's main cannons. "Ashley was ranting to me for about half an hour about the new Major, skipper."

She shrugged. "It's alright, Kaidan. She already talked to me about it."

"Yeah, I know. She said it was bullshit, ma'am."

"Kaidan, ease up. You keep going all formal on me. I might be an O-5 now, but I'm still me."

"Sorry, Shepard. It's just...I have to say, I agree with Ashley. I'm not the only one. A lot of the crew is questioning what's going on. I mean, a week ago, we were on Eden Prime, Jenkins was still...part of the crew."

He paused for a moment.

"And now?"

"And now we've got aliens everywhere, Captain Anderson's been essentially retired, you're the new commanding officer, and we have a new XO - instead of Pressly- and she's a complete unknown. I'm just saying, morale's low."

"What do you suggest I do about it? Space the aliens? Frag Lawson?"

"No, not at all, Shepard. I just...look, I don't have a problem with aliens. Not at all. It's just...you know, less than thirty years ago, we were still using gunpowder weapons? Before we had really figured out how to miniaturize mass effect, during the First Contact War, we were shooting the turians with gunpowder weapons, and they were shooting us with modern weapons. Then we got out there and our technology jumped decades, centuries, once we met the rest of the galaxy."

He shook his head. "We got out to the final frontier - outer space - and it was already settled. And the residents don't seem impressed by the view. Or the dangers."

Ferin grinned. "You're a romantic, Kaidan. That why you're out here? Finding yourself, finding a woman, taming the unknown, virgin expanses of the galaxy?"

He laughed. "No. I'm out here to serve. Maybe to impress a woman...if she was the right one."

Ferin just kept grinning, shaking her head. "Oh, Kaidan. So what's your problem with aliens?"

"I don't have one, Shepard. Really. It's just... I've worked with my share at them, at Brain Camp - er, I'm sorry, Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training, and I learned plenty about aliens there. There's saints and there's demons in every race, aliens included. I don't have a problem, but the crew isn't happy, though. Scuttlebutt says...well, I've overheard some conversations. I don't know, I guess they'll just have to come around."

"How'd you get to know aliens?"

"They were our instructors at BAaT. After the First Contact War."

"You've never talked about Brain Camp before. I knew you went, but..."

"It wasn't a good experience. The instructors were brutal, the kids weren't all able to take it. I made it out without any real problems. But I was lucky."

"Tell me about it."

"Well, it was on Jump Zero, back in Sol. Conatix Industries ran it. They'd find people who'd been..." he hesitated. Making quotation marks with his fingers, he continued, "accidentally exposed...to element zero while in utero."

"You doubt that it was accidental?"

"At first, yeah, I'm sure. But when subject zeros started dying and it started getting hard to find new exposures? I don't know. Nothing official. Maybe they were detonating drive cores over our colonies, maybe not. All I know is that in retrospect, they got there damn quick."

"How long were you at Jump Zero? What was it like?"

"Gagarin Station was...harsh. I was there until...well, for a long time. We didn't have much free time, we were constantly training and practicing biotics - hell, we weren't allowed to do things physically, it all had to be biotic. If you wanted...if you wanted a pencil, you had to pull it to you biotically."

"You all were L2x implants, weren't you?"

"Yeah. That made it worse. No offense, ma'am, but you're an L3x. Your implants are nice, powerful, and don't give you a nosebleed or a migraine every time you use them."

"I've never noticed you getting a nosebleed."

"I'm lucky, I only get migraines when I use my biotics. Anyway, that's not the point. Originally, Jump Zero was run by humans. But we didn't know anything about biotics back then. They could try in theory, but they didn't know anything about the actual usage of biotics. Forget trying to teach the kids to move stuff, they had enough trouble making sure they wouldn't break their own limbs."

"And that's where the aliens came in."

"Asari, I'm assuming?"

"No, actually, turian. They considered asari aid at first, but they didn't want to look weak by asking the Citadel for help so soon after first contact. So, they hired up some turian mercs and had them teach us how to use our biotics."

"That must have caused a lot of friction."

"Yeah, you have no idea, Shepard. There was one instructor, Commander Vyrnnus. He was in charge of the training. He used to say "I was at the helm of the dreadnought that killed your father" whenever he could. When I said my father didn't serve in the First Contact War, he got angry at me for "having lip". From that point on, he had it out for me, he was always trying to make my life hell."

"That sounds...a lot like basic training, actually."

Kaidan laughed. "Yeah, but at boot camp, I didn't have to do everything with a constant migraine. No, BAaT was a lot harder than boot camp. I...they pushed us incredibly hard. You either came out a superman or you didn't come out at all. A lot of kids snapped, a lot of kids died. But I don't really have much to say about that."

Ferin frowned. "How much free time did you have?"

"Oh, we had a decent amount, I suppose. If you worked hard, we'd have a few hours in the evenings after chow to talk."

"Hmm. You were a bunch of horny teenagers, alone in space. I'm sure you found things other than talking to do."

Kaidan shook his head, raising his hand. "I'm...not the kind of person who does that kind of thing, Shepard. Not lightly, at least."

"There wasn't anyone you wanted to dock with? Be honest, Kaidan."

He laughed uncomfortably. "I...I had a friend. She liked me, I liked her. We spent a lot of time together over the years."

"Did you love her?"

"I don't know what love really is, Shepard. But things never fell together. Just wasn't in the cards, I suppose. But...I think I'm done talking about Brain Camp, colonel. I'm sorry."

She nodded. "Well, glad to know your opinion on aliens, anyway. What about Lawson?"

"I...don't think she's as bad as Ash is making her out to be. Ash is kind of...judgmental, about everything. Major Lawson's...cold, but I think that she'll be solid when we need her."

"Based on...?"

"We talked for a little while. I...mostly talked. Her people skills aren't great, but I think she's got a good heart under all the...ice."

"I'll be talking to her after this. If she's our XO...well, I should get to know her at least a little, I guess. Good talking to you, Kaidan."

"Yes ma'am."

"Formal, again, lieutenant?"

"Sorry. Shepard. You make a habit of getting this personal with everyone?"

"To some extent, yes." Shepard cocked her head with a slight smile. "But I don't necessarily...enjoy it as much with everyone."

Kaidan blinked. "I'll uh...need some time to process that. Ma'am. I mean, Shepard."

She laughed and left the main battery, finding Miranda still reading her datapad. After a moment, she grabbed a can of Coke from the kitchen and sat down across from Miranda, who set down the datapad and looked at her expectantly.

"I figured I should get to know my new second-in-command. For as long as she'll be on the ship."

Miranda shrugged. "What would you like to know, colonel?"

"Just tell me about yourself, major."

"There's not much to say about me, Shepard. I was born in space and..." she hesitated for a moment before continuing, "raised by my father. Eventually, I joined the Alliance and Cerberus found me."

"How old are you, Lawson?"

"I was born in 2150. I'm 32 right now. Four years older than you, if I'm correct."

"Yes, you are."

She nodded. "Both of us have accomplished amazing things and haven't even hit the peak of our youth yet. I didn't join the Alliance until I was 20. Went straight into Cerberus, ended up in N7 training five years ago."

"What was your primary specialty?"

"They wanted to train me as a vanguard, but I managed to get trained as an infiltrator. I was already trained with my biotics when I was a girl, but I never got much firearms training. Rectified now, of course."

"You must have a formidable amount of combat experience."

"I'm one of the better operators in Cerberus. I don't mean to brag, but there's not many who can match my abilities. I can shoot a mech's head off from a hundred meters with a pistol, tear it apart with biotics, or hack it and turn it against its allies. Don't worry, Shepard. I won't let you down in combat."

"I don't doubt it." Ferin felt like there was something missing from the woman's story, but chose not to pry for now.

"Tell me about Cerberus."

She hesitated. "A lot of Cerberus is classified, Shepard. I don't know if there's much I can tell you."

"I have top-secret clearance. From both the Alliance and the Citadel, now."

"I know, Shepard, but I mean...well, firstly, we're need-to-know only. We're significantly compartmentalized. We very rarely know what other Cerberus operators are doing. The only Cerberus operative I really have contact with is my handler. Occasionally, they'll need a wet team, and that's about the only time I see other Cerberus members for more than a quick transmission."

"That secretive, huh?"

"Yes. Cerberus was the Alliance's answer to the Spectres, the STG, the legendary asari commandos. I can't tell you much at all. As I mentioned earlier, Cerberus is organized into cells. I don't know how many there are, but each one is completely independent. I've never met another operator from another cell; no one in my cell except for the commander has."

"Is the commander anyone I know?"

"I'm afraid I can't say, Shepard. Partially because it's classified, mostly because I don't even know who it is. I can tell you that his nickname is the Illusive Man. I don't know who came up with it, but it seems to fit him well. The stories I hear about him...you'd think he was a ghost. I haven't met him face-to-face, but my handler says that most of my assignments come down directly from him."

"You guys take operational security seriously."

"Part of the job, Shepard. You..." she hesitated for a moment. "You should know that I've had extremely extensive genetic modifications. Not my choice...but I make the best of it."

"How extensive are we talking about?"

"Physically, I'm capable of a lot more exertion than most humans. I heal very quickly and will, barring violent death, live half as long again as the average human. I have faster reflexes than any human...even how my physical appearance is designed to give me an edge."

Ferin shrugged. She had noticed that Miranda was almost inhumanly attractive, and she had handled herself well in the alley, although she hadn't really seen much of her skills. Miranda continued.

" It's all...very thorough. Add to that some of the most expensive training and education money can buy and...I suppose I have a pretty impressive resume."

"Sounds like you were designed to be perfect."

"I...may sound like it, but I'm human, Shepard. Human like you or anyone else," she said oddly defensively. "And when I fail...it tends to be severe. People expect a lot from someone with my...abilities."

"What was your N7 qualification?"

"Demolisher."

"Not Shadow? Most infiltrators go for Shadow."

"I was already a skilled biotic when I reached Alliance training. I was a good shot and I learned what I needed to about infiltration and sniping. I figured that it would be beneficial to learn how to use technology and demolitions on the battlefield. Round myself out."

"I suppose. The specialized training goes a long way, though."

"No doubt, Shepard. I've no doubt that you'd kick my ass if we ever had a shootout or if - God forbid - I had to fight you with one of those swords you Shadows work with all the time. But I wanted to be versatile, able to operate not only in a team but alone if necessary. Cerberus work is often solo."

"I see."

"I'm also an excellent judge of character. Not a skill I was trained in, but something I picked up in my life. I think you'll find my assessments to be right on the money. And I'm very good and planning ahead. I'm very rarely wrong, about anything."

"You sound cocky."

"There's no point in false modesty, Shepard. If you have skills, you tell the truth about them - exaggeration or modesty just makes people have false expectations. I am very rarely wrong, but when I am...my mistakes tend to be larger than most people's."

"I see."

"Is there anything else, Shepard?"

"How's the crew treating you?"

"As long as they don't flout my authority, I don't particularly care. I'm not here to make friends, Shepard. I'm here to do a job."

"And what job is that?"

"Assisting and protecting you, colonel."

"I don't particularly need protection, Lawson."

"I don't doubt it, Shepard, but you need skilled operators working with you. I don't doubt that Lieutenant Alenko is a formidable Marine, or that Sergeant Williams isn't an excellent soldier. But the truth is, you have a dearth of veterans aboard. Most of the Marines on the Normandy aren't well-tested under fire. They're well-equipped to repel boarders and maintain the Normandy, but not for action on planets. But you know what they say about our unit. Back to back, two warriors from SFOD1 can take the galaxy on."

"You don't have anything to say about the aliens?"

"Of course they're excellent assets, Shepard. But your direct action squad consists of, not counting myself, First Lieutenant Alenko, Staff Sergeant Williams, a krogan mercenary, a turian police officer, and a quarian teenager. Neither Alenko nor Williams have significant field experience - Williams has none. Forgive me, but this does not instill confidence."

Ferin sighed. "I get your point, Lawson. But, would you like some advice from me?"

"Yes, colonel?"

"Make friends. It'll be a lot easier for me, or Garrus, or Ashley, or any of our squad, to want to run over and drag your ass to safety if you're bleeding out, if we actually like you."

Before Miranda could respond, Joker's voice came through on Ferin's omni-tool. "Commander, Pressly's identified the planet that Dr. T'Soni is on. Docking reports from the planet of...Therum...what is it, Pressly? It's pronounced thee-rim? Whatever. I like 'the rum' better. Docking reports indicate that a vessel, the MSV Fate Unbound landed several weeks ago with a Dr. Liara T'Soni on-board. It departed a week later without her, and no other vessels have left with Dr. T'Soni on their manifests."

"Roger that, Joker. Set a course for Therum."

"It's the-rum, Commander. On our way. ETA 1.5 hours."

Shaking her head, Ferin turned to Miranda. "Better get suited up, Major."

Ferin stood and walked off. After a moment, Miranda put her drink back down and picked up her datapad, continuing her reading.

In the armory, Shepard found Wrex lounging in a corner. When she told him that on-board the ship, he didn't need his armor, he had just shrugged. The krogan seemed pretty apathetic and untalkative, so she'd left him be. Garrus, meanwhile, had been busy calibrating the M-35 Mako's cannon and machine guns, while Tali was learning about the ship's Tantalus drive core with Chief Engineer Adams, and Ashley was cleaning and maintaining the ship's small arms. On her own, Ferin had begun calibrating her replacement firearms. A new Valkyrie and a new Valiant had come in, along with a new set of Hahne-Kedar armor. She always hated breaking in a new set of armor - it was one-size-fits-all, but because of her small stature, the tech didn't work as well for her, and she always had to do a lot of adjustments before it fit comfortably.

"Commander, we'll be touching down in thirty mikes. Docking officials say that the doctor is in a Prothean ruin about three hours from the spaceport. I'd suggest taking the Mako; there's a nice place we can drop it that's about an hour from the ruin, then we can head to the spaceport. Unless you want to walk all night, which I'd actually love if you did. It'd be nice to have some shore leave."

"Yeah, yeah, Joker."

Shaking her head, she turned to examine her crew. She didn't really need a large group to go with them to meet the doctor, who was an archeologist according to the dossier the Council had forwarded. Low-risk, and she was still in her "maiden" phase, which apparently meant that she should've been a stripper, not a scientist. Low-risk, never received true combat training, although she did have biotics, and it was safe to assume she knew how to use them well - Matriarch Benezia, her mother, and the woman who was working with Saren, had been a commando earlier in her nine hundred years of life. Ashley was a no-go, her arms needed time to heal. Lawson...was Lawson. Ferin reluctantly decided to bring her, give her a chance. Tali seemed to be an engineering genius, so she could accompany them - her expertise might be helpful in the advanced ruins. Two humans, one alien? Wrex was too threatening and confrontational. Ferin decided she'd bring Garrus, too. He could be fairly diplomatic, from what she'd seen. _Myself, Major Lawson, Garrus, and Tali...anyone else? No, should be solid. Don't want to spook her if she's not expecting us, and in the Mako, the four of us should be able to blast through most opposition. Even if Lawson's not as good as she says she is, Garrus and I are solid._

"Hey, Garrus?"

"Just a minute, Commander. Just need to...and then I can...alright. What do you need, Commander?"

"Get suited up and draw weapons. You're coming to meet Dr. T'Soni."

"Alright, Ferin." The turian headed over to his locker. Ferin blinked in surprise. _Huh. I think that's the first time someone's called me by my first name in...months, at least._ Shaking her head, she headed back to engineering, tapping Tali on the shoulder.

"Shepard! Your ship's amazing, do you know that?"

"Uh, hi, Tali."

"I can't believe your engineers were able to fit a drive core this powerful into a ship this small! And the stealth systems are absolutely ingenious! I haven't ever been on a ship this advanced, it's a dream come true for me!"

"Tali. Tali."

" But I wish I had time to work on the ship. I think I could fix the problem with the light signature blue-shifting during FTL travel! Although that might cause...well, maybe not. But I've learned so much! I'm starting to see why humans have been so successful in the galaxy, with technology this advanced!"

"Tali. Calm down."

"You know, just months ago, I was sitting on board a two-hundred year old ship in the middle of the flotilla plugging fuel lines in and making sure the parts that were falling off weren't important. Now I'm on board the most advanced ship in the galaxy. I'm sorry, Shepard, what were you saying?"

Ferin smiled. The quarian's enthusiasm was a welcome shift from Wrex' surly stares and Lawson's cold personality.

"I need you to draw weapons. Have you selected equipment from the armory?"

"Oh, yes. You have quite a large collection of guns onboard the Normandy. I'm glad I could get rid of my old Katana. It barely worked against even varren."

"Alright, you'll be heading out with us on the Mako to find Dr. T'Soni."

"Garrus wouldn't let me look at the Mako earlier, he said he was too busy fixing the weapons or whatever. I have to thank you for letting me come along, Shepard, this is one of the best experiences I've had in my life."

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Tali," Ferin said with a grin. "Get geared up, we're leaving in fifteen."

"Okay, commander!" She turned back to the console she was working on. Ferin caught a glance from Engineer Adams of entertainment. He gave her a thumbs up and returned to his work. Smiling, she headed back out into the cargo bay, to find Miranda leaning against the Mako, chatting idly with Garrus. The police officer actually seemed pretty comfortable, surprisingly. Ferin had noticed that every time she saw Miranda talking to someone, they seemed...uncomfortably at best. She headed over to Miranda.

"Lawson."

"Shepard."

"You'll be coming with us."

"I figured, Commander. I'm already suited up."

Ferin paused, and looked at her again. The woman had changed out of her casual attire into the jumpsuit she'd been wearing on the Citadel. She had an M-13 Raptor sniper rifle painted in N7 colors, an N7 M-4 Valkyrie, and her N7 M-7 Hurricane magnetically attached on her back and hip. Ashley's words came back to her. _We wear armor into battle, not swimsuits._

"That's suited up?"

"All I need, Shepard. I like to stay mobile on the battlefield. Outside of zero-g and EOD, I don't like heavy armor. Don't worry about me."

Ferin shook her head. She had a feeling that the whole "running over and dragging her ass to safety" situation was going to be happening sooner, rather than later. Sighing, she headed over to her own armor locker, stripping down and changing into the new N7 Shadow armor. The armorers had shipped her weapons having already attached the parts she'd requested, saving her some time and providing her with weapons very similar to the ones she'd lost on Eden Prime. She engaged the magnetic locks, attaching the weapons to herself, then slid her N7 longsword into its sheath on her back. After a moment, she closed her eyes and bowed her head. Everybody had a pre-mission ritual. Kaidan liked to meditate before missions, Jenkins had liked to stuff himself with food. Ferin had a small excerpt of a poem that she always focused on, from Alfred, Lord Tennyson. His work, _Ulysses_. It was what she focused on when she needed strength, what she had repeated in N-school when she was about to give in and quit.

_We are not now that strength which in old days moved Earth and Heaven. That which we are, we are: one equal temper of heroic hearts made weak by time and fate, but strong in will; to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield._

Joker's voice came over the ship's intercom. "All hands, prepare for ground force deployment."

_Time to get to work._ Ferin sighed and opened her eyes, turning to find the ground team preparing. Tali was opening the Mako's hatch and checking the systems one more time. Miranda was at the end of the loading ramp, a Legion pistol in her hand as she waited for them to get ready to drop. Garrus was loading extra ammunition blocks, thermal clips, and thermal sinks into the Mako, to prepare them for combat. Despite the fact that weapons relied on the mass effect instead of gunpowder these days, ammunition blocks were still necessary. Although weapons were still measured by the "caliber", they functioned by chipping off bullets from a metal block inside the weapon - the caliber was determined by the size of the bullet in relation to the round fired from the gunpowder days, only a few decades ago. So while the N7 Valkyrie was said to be a 5.56x45mm weapon, the bullet it fired was significantly smaller than 5.56x45mm; it was the same size as the bullet contained in one of the old full 5.56x45mm gunpowder rounds. Although the advance resulted in large amounts of ammunition - you could get several thousand rounds from one ammunition block - you still had to replace each weapon's ammo block eventually. It was a bigger problem for things like the Mako, which had heavy armament - the Mako had a 155mm main cannon, the M-122 Pilum, mounted on it, which needed a large ammunition block and a replacement block after every thirty rounds, in addition to a coaxial 12.7mm machine gun - the M-20 Harpoon. The heat sinks also had to be modified for crew-served heavy weapons, as they generated far more heat than a shoulder-fired weapon - the M-20 Harpoon had a special heat sink with a mass of 20 kilograms, that needed to be replaced every two hundred rounds, while the Pilum didn't even operate with a heat sink, instead needing to cool down for about ten seconds after every round fired to avoid the risk of the mass effect generator exploding.

Ferin walked over and helped him start loading crates of ammo. Wrex was scowling beside them.

"You should let me come, Shepard."

"Want to help us, Wrex?"

Uncrossing his arms, he bent down and picked up five crates at a time, loading them into the Mako effortlessly. Ferin shook her head.

"Wrex, we don't need you on this one. We're just talking to the scientist."

"Hmph. It's your ship, Shepard. But when this thing goes south and we're flying in to save the day, just remember: I told you so."

Ferin shook her head. "Why are you so convinced things are going to go wrong?"

"Shepard. You're a soldier. Don't act like you don't know that everything goes wrong, always."

"Eh...the worst that could happen is we have to fight the asari, Wrex. And she's not a warrior. Her only defense is her biotics."

"Well, I'll be in the fire direction center, ready to lay down some artillery when you bite off more than you can chew, Shepard."

The krogan chuckled. "At least your ship has got some proper guns on it. Wish I could have used some of them on my last few missions." He turned and started off, before stopping.

"Oh, and Shepard. I want a damn place to sleep. I shouldn't have to be huddling in the corner of a damned cargo bay with a quarian and a turian as my blankets."

Garrus laughed. "And here I thought we were getting to care for each other, Wrex."

"Hmph. I feel like I need to check myself for scale-rot just having slept nearby a turian."

The krogan headed to the elevator and smacked the up button. After a moment, the elevator strained and took him up.

"Wrex growing on you, Garrus?"

"He's a good guy...for a krogan. You should get to know him, Shepard."

"I'll make a point to talk to him after we've handled Benezia's daughter." He stopped as Joker made another broadcast.

"Approaching drop point. Shadow 1-1, you are cleared to deploy. Have fun and take pictures."

Ferin shook her head. Tali was already in the driver's seat of the Mako; Garrus climbed in the hatch, followed by Ferin and then Miranda. Ashley lowered the ramp, allowing the Mako to start rolling out of the Normandy. By the time they were in free-fall, all four team members were belted into their seats, braced for landing. Ten seconds later, they hit the ground - even with the Mako's boosters engaged, the impact still jarred their teeth and tossed them around in their seats. A moment later, Tali spoke.

"Engines online, all systems are green. We're good to go, Commander. Pressly uploaded a navpoint to us from the Normandy."

"Alright, take us there. Garrus, you've got guns. Miranda and I will load."

"You got it, Shepard."

He unbuckled himself and climbed into the gunner's station, a seat in the center of the armored vehicle in front of a series of computers, each one feeding him information about their environment, feeds from hardened cameras on the exterior, and info on the weapons systems themselves.

"All weapons are functional and fully loaded, Shepard. Anyone tries to mess with us, they will be hurting."

"I doubt we'll run into resistance, Garrus. It's just an archeological dig."

"Such a pity. I haven't gotten to use heavy weapons since I was in the Turian Army."

She smiled. "How long 'til we get there, Tali?"

"Fifty minutes or so. The Normandy's reporting that they've landed at the spaceport."

"Okay. Let me know if anything happens."

"You got it, Shepard."

Ferin sighed and leaned her head back in her seat. She saw Miranda get up and head over to the cockpit before she closed her eyes and let herself doze off for a bit.

* * *

She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep for, but she awoke when the Mako suddenly rocked onto its side for a moment, throwing her around in her seat. She heard Tali swearing loudly, saw Garrus typing rapidly on the gunner's station computers. A moment later, she heard the main cannon fire, the sound loud enough to damage eardrums. Miranda pulled herself out of the cockpit and walked over to Ferin. She spoke casually.

"Shepard, there's geth on the planet, between us and the objective. Should we engage?"

"Yes, we should goddamn well engage," Ferin snapped as she unbuckled her belt and stood, rushing over to Garrus' chair and looking over his shoulder at the cameras. There were several...what appeared to be heavy weapons platforms. They were unmistakably geth, as they had the curved, flashlight heads that instantly screamed geth at anyone who saw them, but they stood on eight legs and were firing pulses of plasma out of their flashlight heads. Tali was engaging in evasive maneuvers while Garrus aimed and fired the main cannon as fast as he could, while working the coaxial machine guns in bursts to take out individual geth infantrymen. As he quickly targeted a geth trooper armed with a rocket launcher and fired six .50 caliber rounds into its torso, he laughed.

"It's good to work with heavy arms again. Haven't gotten to use anything other than shoulder-fired since I was discharged!"

Ferin headed over to the cockpit. "Tali, get us in closer."

"Are you crazy, Shepard? Those plasma rounds will wreak havoc on our shields if they hit us."

"Just do it, Tali."

"Alright, just remember you asked for it."

Ferin turned back to Garrus. Miranda was loading a new ammunition block into the main cannon while he worked the machine guns rapidly.

"Garrus, give me manual control of the turret. Focus on using the main cannon as accurately as possible. Miranda, can you load both the machine gun and the main cannon without another crew member?"

Miranda closed the hatch on the 155 and pushed a stray lock of hair off of her forehead.

"Of course. Have fun."

Between the gunner's station and the cockpit was a small alcove with a thick band of cloth slung from the roof of the personnel carrier in a U shape. Ferin sat down on the sling and tapped a button as Garrus transferred the machine gun to manual control. the floor rose as a hatch in the top of the Mako opened, lifting her out of the Mako and beside the machine gun. Although the machine gun could be remotely controlled, Ferin had always found that remotely controlling weapons couldn't compare to actually having them in her hands. Although they were supposed to be more accurate when controlled by computers, since computers didn't shake or breathe of any of that, Ferin's experience was that that was bullshit. You couldn't get that feeling, where you just knew that your weapon was lined up perfectly, where you were in the zone and you could hit everything you shot at. Nothing could compare to having the actual weapon in your hands, where you could control it with the subtlest motions of any part of your body - where the weapon was a part of you. Taking a calming breath, she sighted down the weapon and depressed the triggers with her thumbs, opening fire on the geth as the Mako got steadily closer to them. Inside, she heard Miranda yell something at Tali.

"What did you say?" Tali responded.

"I said, don't get us shot! Shepard's on the outside of the vehicle, if you get shot she'll get killed."

"Oh, great. Thanks for the advice, dodge the plasma!"

Miranda didn't respond to the sarcastic comment as she reloaded a new ammunition block into the main cannon. A moment later, the cannon discharged so loudly Ferin's ears sealed up automatically for a moment to protect her eardrums, causing her hearing to disappear momentarily. The explosive round hit the geth armature she'd been firing at, scything through the shields and hitting it where one of its legs joined to the body, severing the leg and striking the leg behind it before the shell exploded. The geth crumpled to the ground, missing two legs on its left side, and shut down. Ferin quickly rotated the turret, finding a new target and opening fire again. Despite the proximity to the geth, the plasma balls they fired never came close to the Mako, in part due to the slow speed of the plasma projectiles, and in part due to Tali's maneuvering. It wasn't long before they'd managed to disable another three armatures. They came to a halt in front of a cliff wall, with a small pathway leading up.

"Miranda, ammo count."

"Two blocks left for the main cannon, seven for the Harpoon."

"Alright. Tali, is there a route around this cliff?"

"Not with the Mako, Shepard. We're going to have to go on foot."

"Ok. Everyone, dismount. Grab extra ammo if you need it. Radio the Normandy and let them know where we parked."

"Will do, Shepard."

They dismounted the vehicle, sealing the hatches behind them. Ferin activated her Valkyrie, looking around as her team readied their weapons.

"Joker has the coordinates. The dig site should not be far from here, Shepard."

"Thanks, Tali. Let's move out. Miranda, take point."

"Roger that." She hefted her Valkyrie and stepped up, jogging up the pathway.

"Garrus, you've got the rear."

"No problem, Shepard."

The four spread out into a column, climbing the mountain path one behind another. It was a difficult climb, filled with switchbacks and, at several points, places where they were climbing vertically, finding handholds and footholds to get up. Eventually, they reached the top of the cliff, where they saw a small base camp set up, with a large set of stairs leading to a portable containment tunnel. PCTs were used to seal off potentially valuable or dangerous underground areas; Ferin surmised that the tunnel in this case lead to the Prothean ruins T'Soni was working in. She looked at the others, wiping some of the sweat dripping from her forehead off. The volcanic planet, combined with the exertions of climbing the cliff face, left her sweating heavily. Miranda actually seemed pretty comfortable, although she supposed the jumpsuit she was wearing breathed better than armor. Tali had to be burning up, though, and Garrus didn't look much happier than Ferin felt.

"Let's get into that PC-"

As she spoke, a strange little mechanism suddenly slammed to the ground in front of them. It was a geth, but its little flashlight was attached to a...frog like body. As she started to raise her weapon, the geth leapt, slamming onto one of the base camp's building walls, and then flying onto a catwalk.

"Ambush!"

Ferin cried the warning as a geth dropship appeared overhead. About twenty geth, including one of the big armatures they'd been fighting in the Mako, landed. Ferin scrambled for cover, ducking behind a metallic crate. Miranda, Tali, and Garrus had sought cover to her right, behind a large, stone formation.

"Open fire!"

Ferin leaned out and started firing off controlled pairs, trying to keep the geth from advancing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Miranda doing the same; Tali was typing frantically on her omni-tool, and she couldn't see Garrus.

"Tali, shoot back!"

"I'm trying to hack the geth, Shepard. Keep them off me and I'll have the armature under my...Shepard, get down!"

Shepard ducked back behind the crate the instant she shouted it, but it was no use. The armature blasted a plasma shell into the fragile crate. For a moment, Ferin felt incredibly intense heat around her as the plasma melted the crate and flowed around it, hurling the crate backwards and smashing into Ferin. She felt herself flying for a moment before she crashed into the ground by the cliff edge heavily, knocking the wind out of her, bruising her shoulder, and sending her rolling off the edge. She managed to catch on to the edge with the tips of her left hand, her right hand still holding onto her assault rifle.

"Shepard!" Ferin could hear Miranda, but not see her. "Cover me!"

Garrus popped out of cover, firing dozen round bursts from his Phaeston, while Tali stopped trying to hack the armature for a moment and started taking potshots with her pistol. In the meanwhile, Miranda sprinted to the edge of the cliff and slid to the edge, looking over the edge to see Ferin dangling. She quickly offered a hand, grimacing as she pulled Shepard up. Both women fell over as Miranda pulled Ferin over the lip of the cliff, overbalancing backwards. The fall ended up saving both their lives, however, as the armature launched a blast of plasma that flew just above Miranda had been crouching, the heat intense enough to ignite the ends of the hair of both women for a moment.

"I..." Ferin coughed, the air in her lungs scorchingly hot. "Thanks, Miranda."

"No problem, Ferin." Miranda didn't hesitate as she crawled back to the heavy rock outcropping, Ferin following her.

"We need a way to take out that heavy weapons platform, Shepard."

"Got any suggestions, Garrus?"

"Short of artillery or getting back to the Mako, no."

"How's the hack coming, Tali?"

"I think I'm...I just need to figure out how to break these last few firewalls, Shepard. I-"

She was interrupted as Garrus, in the middle of reloading his Phaeston, dropped the weapon, yanked out his Haerin pistol - another turian design - and fired three rounds into a geth rounding the corner around the rock formation.

"Keep them off me, Shepard, and we won't need to worry about the armature!"

"Alright. Make it fast, Tali! Garrus, take the right flank, Miranda, you're on left! Keep the geth from getting too close!"

"Shepard, there's too many of them, we don't have superior firepower," Garrus said. "We're outnumbered too far - we're the ones getting suppressed here."

"Tali, I need a time estimate."

"I just need two minutes!" The quarian flinched as a chip of rock flew past her head, shot off the main formation by a phasic bullet. A moment later, a wave of plasma sailed overhead, forcing Ferin to close her eyes against the heat.

"We can hold for two minutes, Garrus. Just keep firing."

"Shields down!"

Miranda ducked behind the rock formation as a phasic slug ripped a three-inch long gash in her jumpsuit from the middle of her arm to her shoulder. She winced as blood began to flow from the wound, but ignored it, reloading her assault rifle without hesitation. Ferin fell to the left, landing on her side and quickly firing several rounds while Miranda reloaded. An advancing geth crumpled as four armor-piercing rounds punched through its legs. Ferin flinched and rolled back behind cover as bullets drummed up dust around her and flared against her shields. Miranda leaned back out, then suddenly threw herself to the right, her eyes wide. Ferin didn't hesitate, mirroring her action -a moment later, a wave of plasma hit the left side of the formation, some of it melting the rock and dissipating against the rock, the rest boiling the air away as it sailed past where the two had just been. Miranda returned to her position and continued firing as Ferin turned to check on Garrus. She was alarmed to see blue blood splattered on the ground, more of it oozing from a small hole in the turian's calf. He leaned back out and fired off the rest of the rounds in his thermal clip, then reloaded, his face stoic.

"Garrus, you alright?"

"Fine, Shepard."

"Tali, how much long-"

Another blast of plasma hit the rock, which glowed red as it melted further.

"How much longer, Tali? We're not going to have cover much longer if you don't hack that son-of-a-bitch, now!"

"Just need ten more seconds, Shepard!"

Garrus stumbled backwards several steps, dropping his assault rifle as his left hand came up to his shoulder, then he threw himself to the left, landing on his back. His hand was dripping with blue blood as he winced, dragging himself to a sitting position against the rock and pulling out his pistol with his left hand. When he saw Ferin starting over to his position, he waved her off.

"Just a flesh wound, Shepard," he said with a groan. Ferin ignored him, coming up beside him and pressing her back to the rock, flinching as another wave of plasma rolled past them.

"Patch yourself up, Garrus, I'll take the right."

The turian didn't argue, instead activating his omnitool and starting to dispense some medigel. Ferin leaned out and opened fire, and was almost instantly hit multiple times, overloading her shields. She ducked back immediately, in time to see Miranda's head snap backwards as she fired her weapon from a crouched stance. The woman crumpled in a heap on the ground, dropping her assault rifle and lying motionless.

"Miranda!"

She took a step towards the fallen soldier before Garrus shouted.

"I'll get her, Commander, keep an eye on the right!"

She swore as she turned, just in time to see a geth turning the corner, his weapon leveled to fire. She lashed out with the butt of her rifle, striking the geth hard in its head. A bullet grazed her thigh as it fired at the same time, but the rest of its bullets went wide. Shepard smashed it again with her rifle, knocking it onto its back, then leveled her rifle and opened fire, putting ten bullets in it. She put her shoulder back to the rock, as she heard Tali's triumphant cry.

"Full control taken! Hang on, Shepard!" A moment later, a wave of plasma blasted nearby Ferin, although further than the last few. She glanced over her back to see Garrus checking Miranda for vitals.

"What's Miranda's status, Garrus?"

"She was just knocked out - her shields stopped that bullet from entering her head. She'll be just fine, Shepard, although she'll have a hell of a concussion!"

Miranda stirred, waving her arm feebly through the air. A large bruise was already forming over her right eye. Garrus pulled her against the rock, resting her back against it, then leaned out and snagged her Valkyrie. He reloaded the weapon, leaning out and checking for more hostiles. While he'd been checking Miranda, however, Tali had been using the armature to destroy the geth. Although they'd sought cover from the massive heavy weapon the instant it had been hacked, its firepower was significant enough that the geth light infantry had stood no chance. A moment later, she forcibly fried its systems from the inside, destroying the armature.

Tali stood, dusting herself off, and picked up her shotgun. Ferin closed her eyes and exhaled shakily, then turned and crouched down beside Miranda, who was gingerly touching her forehead. She'd need to be checked out by Dr. Chakwas as soon as they got back to the Normandy - aside from a concussion, it was possible her brain was bleeding. She had three other wounds, a grazing cut along her upper arm, and another grazing wound along her side, and a bullet that had struck her in the hip - the last would also need to be examined by the doc, although Garrus had already applied medigel and it looked like it hadn't caused too much damage. Leaving her sitting there, Ferin quickly moved over to Garrus, who'd sustained several injuries. He grimaced as Ferin gently probed the wounds. The most serious was the bullet that had passed through his shoulder, bouncing off bone on the way through and flying out at an acute angle with the entry wound. He had another two grazing injuries, then a bullet through his calf. He'd already treated all of the wounds with medigel. Ferin sighed, standing.

"You good, Garrus?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Miranda and Tali okay?"

"Miranda's going to need medevac. Tali looks fine."

"Good." The turian grimaced as he stood up, looking around for his fallen Phaeston. He limped slightly as he walked over to Miranda, putting her Valkyrie in her lap. As he walked over to his Phaeston, the limp seemed to dissipate, until he seemed to be walking fine. _The wonders of medigel_, Ferin thought.

"Sorry it took so long, Shepard. The geth were fighting the hack." Tali looked between Ferin, Garrus, and Miranda, sounding distraught.

"It's fine, Tali. I'm sure you did it as fast as you could. Let's get into the mine before any more geth show up. I want to find this goddamn doctor."

"Okay, Shepard. I'll take point."

"Hey, Miranda. You alright?"

Miranda shook her head a couple times, then climbed to her feet, wincing as she tested her weight on the injured hip.

"Just needed to clear my head, Commander. I'm good to go...just going to try and avoid getting shot in the head again, next firefight."

"I'm going to call for medevac for you."

"No need, Shepard. Trust me, I know when I've got a critical injury or not. Let's just get the asari and get off this godforsaken volcano."

"...alright, Miranda. If you start feeling dizzy, or anything at all, let me know. I don't want you dying from a brain clot or something."

"I don't have hemorrhaging, Shepard. Just a concussion."

"How do you know?"

"This armor may not look like much, as Sergeant Williams is fond of saying, but it has a lot of features. An on-board medical VI being one of them."

_Huh. I need to get something like that for my armor,_ Ferin thought. "Alright. Tali, lead the way."

The cave they entered was poorly lit, with only a few chemical lights along the hallways. At the end of the tunnel, they came across a glowing barrier sealing off the entrance to another tunnel, though it was dramatically different - there was architecture on the other side of the barrier, where there was only dirt and rock on their side. Tali tapped her shotgun against the barrier.

"Solid. I guess these must be the Prothean ruins that this Liara is studying."

"I guess so," Ferin muttered. She looked around, seeing an elevator at the end of some scaffolding.

"Come on, let's go down."

The four cllimbed into the elevator, taking it down past two landings. Both landings had the same kind of barrier and the same kind of architecture on the opposite side. As they approached the third landing, the elevator abruptly stopped, before part of it slipped, leaving the elevator tilted and stuck in its shaft. Ferin gingerly stood, testing her weight, then looked at the third landing, a few feet below them. She hopped over the guard railing and looked around. There was another barrier, but this time, there was a humanoid figure on the opposite side. As the other team members joined her, she walked over and tapped on the barrier.

"Hello? Is someone there?" A voice, unmistakably asari, came from the other side. She sounded young, but extremely...Ferin wasn't sure. From just those four words, Ferin could tell she was cultured, although she couldn't explain how. The figure rotated slowly, until she could see the four soldiers standing before her. She was suspended several feet in the air, spread eagled. There were bonds of purple energy - biotics - around her wrists and ankles.

"I could use some help, please, whoever you are." She managed to sound desperate, extremely polite, and anxious all at the same time.

"Dr. Liara T'Soni?"

"I...yes, that is my name. May I ask who you are?" As she spoke, the asari slowly rotated, Ferin leaving her field of vision.

"My name is Shepard. I'm a commander with the All...I'm a Council Spectre."

"I did not know there were any human Spectres. Were you looking for me?"

"Yes. I'm...looking for your mother, Benezia."

"May I ask why?"

"She's committed crimes against the galaxy. That's also why I'm here."

The asari frowned slightly. "I am not my mother, Shepard. I have not even spoken to her in the last three decades."

"I don't doubt it. How did you get into this predicament?"

"The geth. When they attacked, most of my colleagues were killed immediately. Several of us were already in the dig site, however, and I activated the Prothean defenses to protect us from the geth. I knew the barrier curtains would come up, but it seems I have accidentally triggered a...contingency, I suppose? I am trapped here, now. If you could please help, I have been floating here for a couple of hours."

"Alright. How do I let you go?"

"I am sorry, but you will have to find a way past the barrier curtains. The controls are on this side of the barriers."

"Alright. Sit tight, doctor. We'll get you out of there."

"Please hurry. My arms went numb quite some time ago and my colleagues seem to have either fled or been killed."

"We'll find a way, doctor."

Ferin turned, walking away from the barrier. The scaffolding ended on a natural walkway that appeared to lead down to the ground floor. After a moment of thought, she noticed there was a heavy-duty mining laser pointed below the barrier.

"There," she said, pointing at the laser. "We'll use it to blast our way in."

Tali looked at the laser carefully. "It should have the power to do what we need. I'll hack it, Shepard."

Ferin nodded approvingly, looking around the cave. Garrus and Miranda, meanwhile helped each other over to a comfortable rock and sat down, leaning back against the wall. Ferin sighed as she looked around. The cave didn't feel right. There were geth everywhere outside, but by their actual goal, there weren't any? She sighed. A moment later, Garrus gave voice to her thoughts.

"So...do you believe it, Shepard? Dr. T'Soni not having talked to her mother in years, not knowing anything about her?"

Ferin shrugged, after a moment of deliberation. "I don't know what to think. My gut says that T'Soni wouldn't lie."

Miranda agreed with Ferin. "She's innocent. Very innocent. She's not the kind to lie, especially about something as grave as her mother being charged with treason."

"I wonder what happened with her mother. She sounded harsher when she said she wasn't her mother."

Tali interrupted. "Shepard, I've reprogrammed the mining laser. I'll fire it when you're ready."

"Do it."

"Okay, Commander. Firing."

A moment later, the cannon fired a ray of light, burning its way through the underground and providing a hole leading straight into the Prothean ruins. The team clambered through the small tunnel, grimacing at the intense head, to find another elevator. Upon reaching the third floor, they found Liara still suspended and drifting in circles. Tali found the override console and quickly released the doctor, who fell to the ground and then to her knees. After a moment, she sat down.

"You alright, doctor?"

"Please, call me Liara. I am just...my limbs are numb after having spent so much time in stasis. I need a moment to recover."

"Of course."

"How did you get in here? I did not think it possible to get through the barrier curtains."

"We used a mining laser to blast a hole around the curtains."

"I see. Of course, that makes sense."

"I was hoping to ask you a fe-"

A small tremor ran through the room. Tali uneasily looked around.

"Did you feel that, Shepard? We're on a volcanic planet..."

Liara struggled to her feet, trying to hasten the flow of blood to her legs.

"We are on top of a volcano, Commander. It may be that when you used the mining laser, you triggered seismic activity. In which case, I would suggest that we leave. Now. Follow me, please. The exit is this way."

They hurried back to the elevator, taking it up to the top. As they rose, Ferin quickly punched in Joker's omni-tool, contacting him.

"Yes, Comman-"

"Joker! Get the Normandy to my position for an immediate evac, on the double!"

"Aye aye, ma'am!"

The elevator halted in a room that was thick with dust, as the tremors continued, growing in intensity. A small section of rock fell free from the ceiling. Tali glanced at Ferin.

"Commander, I think we should perhaps hurry up."

Ferin wasn't paying attention, squinting through the dust. She could make our several figures. As a precaution, she raised her assault rifle, to see a large krogan - not quite the size of Wrex, but close, walking forward, a light machine gun resting on his shoulder. He was flanked by several geth.

"Thank you for getting the archeologist for me. Now hand her over and none of you have to die," the krogan rumbled. "Or don't. That'd be more fun."

Ferin shook her head. "We don't have time for this. Charge!"

The krogan chuckled as he readied his machine gun. "I like your attitude." Even as he spoke, however, Ferin was barreling towards him. She'd dropped her Valkyrie and drawn the sword from over her shoulder, moving deceptively fast for her size. As the krogan started to open fire, she threw herself forward in a combat roll, sliding past his right leg and lashing out with the mono-molecular blade, slashing through the krogan's knee and severing most of the tendons around it. The krogan howled, falling to his knees as his leg gave out, dropping his machine gun. Behind her, she could hear her teammates opening fire on the geth, trying to quickly overwhelm them. Ferin straightened, turning and preparing to deliver a killing blow, but the krogan swung out and hit her with a biotic attack, violently tossing her backwards. She managed to somersault and recover in the air, then lunged forward and plunged the curved length of her blade through the center of the krogan's chest. As she withdrew the blade, the krogan, unfazed, roared and punched her in the face. Although her kinetic shielding took the brunt of the hit, she saw stars, her head snapping sideways, and it felt like the side of her face was on fire. She staggered backwards as the krogan attempted to rise, but fell back down, his leg simply incapable of holding his weight. Blinking the blurriness out of her vision, Ferin spun the blade in a circle around her head and slashed down as hard as she could, striking the krogan in the shoulder and cleaving through to the center of his chest in a blow that severed at least a dozen major blood vessels. Blood spurted from the wound as she placed her foot on the krogan's chest, pushing him backwards off of her blade. The wound hung open, revealing the krogan's tough, leather hide, a thin layer of yellow fat, and then an immense amount of muscle, all the way down to the chest cavity, where one of the krogan's ruined hearts was visible, slashed in half. He looked down at his chest, the sight only seeming to enrage him more, as he released another roar, punching out at her again. When he missed, he started gathering dark energy around him again, preparing to use a biotic attack. Ferin beat him, though, spinning and delivering a powerful biotic slash that ripped through the krogan battlemaster's arm, severing tendons and cutting halfway through the bone, ending his attempt to use his biotics. The krogan fell backwards, sitting back on his legs, gurgling as he locked his eyes with Ferin's. She stepped forward, twirling her sword, then spun it into a reversed grip and stabbed it upwards through the krogan's chin. The light of hatred in the krogan's eyes died as she yanked her blade out of his head, and he slowly toppled backwards, blood flowing freely from the massive wounds she'd inflicted with her blade.

Ferin looked over at her team to see Miranda tossing her Valkyrie back to her. She caught it in her left hand, quickly sheathing her sword, then met them, running towards the exit. They'd made short work of the geth, but the tremors had gotten worse and worse, and rocks were falling freely from the ceiling now. They emerged several minutes later from the entrance, the ruins collapsing behind them, to find the Normandy hovering, the loading ramp already extended. The five quickly scrambled and jumped onto the Normandy, as the first sprays of lava emerged from the volcano. They collapsed in relief on the loading ramp, ignoring how close they were to the edge, as the Normandy took off rapidly. After a few moments, Ferin stood, walking up the ramp and punching the controls to close the ramp in. The others sat down in the middle of the armory, their armor covered with grime and dirt, open wounds and all. Ashley hurried to provide them with rations and water, her animosity towards even Miranda forgotten. Ferin walked over after a moment.

"You guys have two hours for recovery, wash up, and whatnot. We'll hold an after action report in the conference room in two and a half hours. Good job, team."


	4. Chapter 4: Friends, Old and New

_Author's Note: I rewrote this chapter a couple times, but given how little free time I've had, I think it turned out alright. There's a lot of exposition and very little action, although I'm starting to get in-depth into characters about now. I wanted to work more than a couple characters into the chapter, but it turns out that the kind of relationships and details I want to work in would cause the chapters to be massive. I know there's been a really big spotlight on Miranda the last few chapters, but other characters will start to become more in the spotlight as the story continues. I know the story's been a bit slow thus far, but it will be picking up speed soon enough - it's just all the characters need to feel like people before Virmire happens._

* * *

"Hey, next time, Shepard, you might want to not have us land in an exploding volcano. Lava tends to play havoc with our shields and melt our hull, and it's horrible for my complexion."

"Quiet, Joker."

Liara looked a little offended. "We nearly just died and he is making jokes?"

"It's a coping mechanism, Liara."

"I see. It must be a human thing. I am afraid I have not had much contact with your species in the past." She touched her head, looking somewhat confused. "I am sorry, I just...I have had little cause for conflict in the past. I feel in shock." Liara rubbed her head, frowning deeply.

"I understand, Liara, but we need to know if you know anything about what's going on, or if you know why Saren sent the geth to attack you."

"I...I don't know."

Kaidan frowned thoughtfully. "What were you working on at those ruins?"

"I was researching the Protheans. They've been the work of my life since I started in archeology. We know so little about them, yet they shaped the entire galaxy. More recently, I've been researching their extinction - how it happened, what could have caused the most powerful species in the galaxy to disappear without even a fossil to be found. We don't even have a good idea of what the Protheans looked like, just that they were bipedal and possibly arthropodal in nature, and we've never recovered a complete fossil."

Ferin sighed. "I might have an idea of how the Protheans disappeared."

"With respect, Commander, I've heard every theory out there on their extinction. I have been gathering evidence on my own theory, but no one takes my work seriously, although there is some non-circumstantial evidence to confirm it, just because I am so young."

Ashley cocked her head, looking at the asari. Asari didn't seem to age, at least the ways humans expected to see it, so they could never tell if an asari was a hundred or a thousand. "How old are you, doc?"

"I am..." she lowered her head, as though in embarrassment. "Only one hundred and six years old, by your people's calendar. My people do not take my work seriously because most of my peers are less concerned with scientific advances and more with exploration, new environments, mating, and war."

Ferin shook her head. "Only one hundred and six, huh? At that age, humans are well into middle age."

"It is true, it seems silly to complain about when you consider the short lifespans of so many other races," Liara said with a shrug.

Miranda interjected. "Not to get the conversation back to the topic at hand, but what's your theory on the Protheans, Liara?"

"It is not very solid yet. It needs a long explanation, but I will try to keep it from being too technical."

"That's fine. Go ahead, Liara."

"I started with the fact that there is so little evidence on the Protheans. Though we have their technology, we know nothing about their culture, their personalities, even their appearance remains somewhat of a mystery to us. All we know is that they are a race that mysteriously vanished, leaving behind an enormous wealth of technology. Because we can find very few fossils of the Protheans, and none of them complete or dating to around the time Prothean artifacts stop appearing, many of my peers in the scientific community are subscribers to the migration theory - that the Protheans developed some technology and departed this galaxy completely, for some unknown reason. However, I believe that something caused them to go extinct, and then erased much of the evidence. If you look at Prothean artifacts and date them using the Aerellia method, you can get a rough estimate of the general focus of the Protheans over the ages. At first it is space travel, around 51,000 to 52,000 years ago, the oldest known Prothean artifacts. Gradually, it changes to conquest and then an empire, where it appears the Protheans enter a golden age - 90% of the artifacts from this age range, between 50,500 and 51,000 appear to be cultural artifacts - art, statues, and similar artifacts are the vast majority of what remains. But after that period, until the youngest known Prothean artifact - 49,983 years old - cultural artifacts abruptly stop appearing. Virtually all known artifacts from that era are broken weapons, broken armor, broken vehicles - all military artifacts. This is an anomaly, because even in times of war - in all cultures, human, asari, turian - culture continues to exist. Artists create art, musicians compose music - it is only when a species is fighting for its very existence, is engaged in total warfare, that cultural artifacts cease to be created. You can see this in the krogan of today - following the release of the genophage into their species, they no longer create art or contribute. They no longer possess a culture, because they believe their race is doomed."

Wrex stood abruptly, though not with anger. A moment later, he turned and left the conference room. Ferin looked after him.

"Is your companion alright? I did not mean to offend."

"No, it's alright, Liara. Keep going, please. Garrus, can you make sure Wrex is alright? I'll go talk to him later."

"You want me - a turian - to go talk to an angry krogan. Alright, Shepard, I'm game, but if I get another wound - or dead - I'm blaming you."

Ferin smiled, waving Garrus off as he stood and walked off. Her mood quickly returned to serious as she turned back to Liara.

"Please, go on."

"Well, it can be argued that this is a result of the krogan's innate aggression and need for combat - but if you examine Tuchankan ruins, it is clear that they did, in fact, had a thriving culture before the nuclear holocaust that rendered most of their planet uninhabitable for any non-native species, and extremely hostile even to native species, until several decades ago. They had architecture, art, sculptures that can still be found in the rubble of the planet, as well as on the planets they settled in the aftermath of the Rachni Wars. Once they believed they were doomed, it all halted. I believe that the Protheans were suddenly attacked by a force that was incredibly powerful, that threatened their entire empire in a very rapid way. Suddenly, their artists could no longer create art, because they were taking up arms, and they fought their new opponent planet by planet over the next five hundred years."

Silence fell for several minutes. Miranda handed Liara a canteen of water, which she gratefully accepted, before continuing.

" Many of my colleagues also agree with me in that there was a cataclysmic war at the end of the Prothean race because of this evidence. However, they believe that the war was not a conflict between the Protheans and another species, but that there was a massive civil war within the empire, resulting in the extinction of the Protheans as a whole. Civil war advocates point to the change in artifacts as evidence, which the migration advocates cannot account for; migration advocates point to the lack of Prothean fossils as evidence, which the civil war advocates cannot account for. While there's a large amount of evidence other than that for both sides, those are the biggest flaws and most convincing evidence for them. No one believes that there was another species in the conflict, because we have never recovered artifacts that were not Prothean; a race as powerful and advanced as the Protheans would have surely inflicted large casualties on a mysterious enemy, and we would have recovered artifacts from them that were the case."

"But not you?"

"No. My theory sounds crazy, but it is this. A mysterious race caused the extinction of the Protheans in a devastating war. Their attackers were even more advanced than they were, and were able to inflict immense damage to their empire in a crippling first blow. The Protheans immediately diverted everything into combat and fought them bitterly, but failed to defeat them in the end. Many of my colleagues would ask me several questions. Where did this race come from? What did they want? Why have we found no evidence of them? Where did they go after they conquered the galaxy?"

Ferin remained silent. Actually, the questions Liara had just suggested her detractors would ask were ones the Council had asked her when she brought up the Reapers, during their second meeting. Right before she'd been inducted as a Spectre, she had talked about the Conduit, her vision, and the Reapers that the geth mentioned in its memory banks. The Council's response had been exactly what Liara had said.

"I have a hypothesis. Throughout our records of Prothean art through their empire, we see drawings and sculptures of an asarian or humanoid species, and occasional references to an "inusannon" in their salvageable computers. The sculptures resemble the fossils we have recovered from a planet, Eingana, where there was a massive battle fought from a time reaching back far further than we can measure with modern dating methods, and certainly before the Prothean Empire. Those are the only artifacts we have ever found from this "inusannon" race, but I believe that the Protheans built their empire on the inusannon - those sculptures, artwork, and data are the only species that are constant throughout what we know of the Protheans. My conjecture is that they built their empire on the ruins of those that came before them, as we built on the ruins of the Protheans. The inusannon suffered the same fate as the Protheans later did - total extinction. I believe there may be a cycle of extinction in the galaxy, with the destruction of the dominant races in the galaxy at the hands of this unknown force every few dozen millennia, which then erases evidence that they were present and departs the galaxy."

Ferin rubbed her head. The theories, the conjecture, the evidence was giving her a headache, but it was important. It seemed that the doctor's evidence supported what she'd seen in the beacon from the Protheans. The atmosphere in the room had gotten graver and graver with every word the doctor spoke.

"Of course, I cannot think of a logical reason for a force to invade the galaxy, annihilate life, and then depart," Liara admitted. "And that is why most people do not believe my theory, although it effectively unites both the migration and the civil war theories. It makes no logical sense."

"Liara...if you had to estimate, when would you say the next cycle of extinction would begin?"

Liara looked surprised at the grave tone in which Miranda spoke. She looked over at the Major, then shrugged. "I do not know. We do not have any records of the inusannon, their approximate extinction time, or records from their civilization. I would speculate that it would have to happen within the next ten thousand years, however - the wreckages on Eingana are of unknown age, but are far older than 75,000 years old, but at most 130,000 years old. While we cannot date the synthetic alloys that the wrecks are made from, they are alloys we use in the modern age that break down after between 120,000 and 130,000 years, depending on the environment - hard vacuum or different planets, for example. Therefore, the earliest they could have gone extinct was 130,000 years ago. However, because of the evidence that we have that the battle over Eingana was with another galactic species - the wreckages of other ships are from different materials and designs - and the fact that the Protheans only mention the inusannon, their extinction must have come later than that battle, as they must have secured galactic dominance if the Protheans built their civilization on the inusannon. I would say they went extinct anywhere between 100,000 and 115,000 years ago. The Protheans went extinct approximately 50,000 years ago. So, given a range of 50,000 and 65,000 years between extinctions, we would be due for another extinction event anywhere from now to 15,000 years from now."

Ferin stood, walking over to galaxy map display in the back of the conference room, her hands clasped behind her back. The silence dragged on for what seemed like minutes, before Ferin finally spoke. "I encountered a working Prothean beacon on a human colony a week ago."

Liara raised her brow. "It is hardly unusual to encounter working Prothean computers, Ferin."

"This was different. It - it imprinted images into my brain. And I think - no, I know - that I saw what you were talking about in your theory, Liara. I saw huge synthetics destroying organics - I saw what the geth call the Reapers destroying the Protheans."

"It imprinted an image into your brain? This is...no Prothean technology has done anything like that in the past. What are these Reapers?"

Tali answered. "The geth believe them to be godlike beings. And Saren is their prophet, along with Matriarch Benezia. The memory banks from a geth I disabled in the Phoenix Massing indicate that they were the race you talked about - machines that emerged from nowhere and destroyed the Protheans, before leaving the galaxy again."

"And how is my mother connected?"

Tali hesitated, looking over at Ferin. Without turning around, Ferin simply nodded. Tali typed on her omni-tool.

"Eden Prime was a major victory! The Prothean beacon brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

As Benezia spoke, Liara gasped, placing one hand over her mouth. "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

"I...I do not understand. My mother was always...distant, but she was never evil. She would not want to...I don't understand."

"Neither do we, Liara. But Saren and your mother are out there somewhere, trying to bring back the Reapers. Before, we didn't know why - we thought maybe they wanted to use the Reaper's power. Maybe they do, maybe they think that the Reapers won't necessarily destroy all life like they did the Protheans. But if the Reapers are causing cycles of destruction, then we know we can't allow them to return. If they do, the galaxy is doomed."

Liara nodded. "I just...I can't believe that my mother would do this. I...Shepard, if I may, I have a question."

"Yes, Liara?"

"Would you ...allow me to examine your memory of the Prothean artifact? It may allow me to discern something, anything about their motivations or this Conduit they are searching for."

"How would you examine my memories?"

"We - the asari - are able to meld our minds with other sapient species. Often the experience is confusing, for both parties, as different species think differently, but we are able to experience each other's memories and thoughts."

"What does this entail?"

"Physical contact and a broadening of your mind are all that is necessary. The more contact there is, the easier the melding of our nerves are, but the true need is for you to relax your mind."

Ashley stood. "Ma'am, I don't trust this. It sounds dangerous."

" It is not a dangerous process at all, sergeant Ashley. We have been using the same process for millennia to reproduce."

"Wait, what?" Ferin raised her hands. "You want to mate with me?"

"Not in the way you are thinking, Commander. Asari physiology is very different from human physiology. The process is the same, but human sexual contact is not required, as I said, and we will not be mating in the asari sense either - all I will be doing is transferring thoughts between us. Melding is the process by which we reproduce, but we do not need to reproduce every time we meld."

Ferin lowered her hands. "Do you think it'll help, Liara?"

"I think it certainly won't hurt to try. And I...find myself curious to see the contents of the beacon. I have been studying Protheans for decades."

"Alright, Liara. Do it."

The asari stood and walked over to Ferin, closing her eyes. She spoke in a soothing, hypnotic tone. "Feel the universe around you, Ferin. Understand that all life is connected, that every action has a rippling effect. See your part in the web of life." The shift in her tone was unexpected, but did not startle Ferin somehow, as her voice suddenly became powerful and commanding. "Embrace eternity!"

She opened her eyes - which had unnervingly turned completely black - and grasped Ferin's hands. Ferin gasped, throwing her head back as she suddenly saw a thousand different memories, in different color, with different focuses, memories she couldn't make sense of and yet could understand. She could feel thoughts that weren't hers and yet were hers, in a graceful language she couldn't comprehend and yet could comprehend at the same time. It was incredibly disorienting, but it seemed more intimate than any other act a person could undertake - not a physical intimacy, but a spiritual one, seeing another's thoughts. It seemed to last for hours, during which Ferin saw the world in breathtaking shades of blue, violet, and silver, with dazzling, vibrant colors of crimson and green. Memories of digging in dirt, when Ferin - or maybe Liara - had been a little girl. Walks in the park. Graceful arches of gorgeous cathedrals on a golden world, the autumn sun shining through the rustling leaves of the trees. Flickers of memories, here and there. A rainy day indoors. The first time at a dig site. The ecstasy of the first mating. The rush of the first kill. A single teardrop. A mother, leaving. An figure, her face distorted and unrecognizable, but whose name was "dad". A soothing voice, "Little Wing". And then, the melding ended. Both women fell backwards as they released each other's hands, the melding complete. Tali quickly caught Liara, while Miranda steadied Ferin.

"I...that was extremely intense, Shepard. You have a very...forceful mind. I am sorry. Meldings are normally done lying down. I should have suggested we sit."

Ferin shook her head. "It's...no problem. I saw...I think I saw your memories.

"I am...astonished. Very few non-asari are able to experience their partner's experiences during the melding. Fewer still are able to make sense of it."

"I wasn't quite able to make sense...I was and I wasn't."

"That is not a surprise. Asari encode our memories differently than humans. Not to mention the language barrier. With our nervous systems melded, your translator implant is of no use. You would have had to use my...well, memories, to make sense of my memories."

Ferin shook her head. "Did you see anything of use?"

"No more than you had already made out. I am amazed you were able to make sense of it. A lesser mind would have been destroyed by that message. It was not meant for humans, it was coded for the Prothean mind. I...suddenly find myself very tired."

"You've had a stressful day. Maybe you should go to the medbay, have our ship's physician check you out."

"Thank you, Shepard. I think...I think I'll do that."

"Miranda, I want you to go with her. Have Dr. Chakwas do a full exam on you as well. I want to make sure that headshot you took didn't scramble anything inside that brain of yours."

"I'm fine, Shepard."

"Let's be safe, Miranda."

She sighed heavily. "As you will, Ferin." She turned to Liara. "It's this way, doctor."

The two left the conference room, talking about something, leaving Ashley, Kaidan, Tali, and Ferin in the room. The air was very subdued as the four sat down, avoiding looking at each other. When Kaidan spoke, his voice was surprisingly loud in the silence.

"Remember when Joker was predicting that there was something a lot more serious than just a test of the stealth systems, back at Eden Prime?"

Ferin laughed a little. "Yeah. You told him he was being paranoid."

"I owe Joker a beer. Shepard...if these Reapers are real...what are we going to do?"

"Stop Saren. Before he ends the galaxy."

"We need to find him, first."

"Yeah."

"Well...at least the team performed well."

"Yeah. We hit a lot of enemy firepower down on Therum. Tali performed excellently against the geth."

"Thanks, Shepard. I'm going to go...get some rest, I think. I'll be down in Engineering."

The quarian stood and left slowly, leaving the three humans sitting in the empty room.

"Miranda and Garrus are crack shots. I'm glad they're with us," Ferin said after a pause. "I had my doubts about Miranda, but she really came through in the end. Actually, she probably saved my life, she risked enemy fire to pull me up from a cliff. And Garrus...I already knew he was a good shot, but he's good in military combat too."

Ashley couldn't help herself. "Lawson did manage to get herself shot in the head, though."

Ferin sighed. "You're going to need to get over this, Ash."

"...sorry, ma'am."

"Liara will be a useful addition to the crew."

"She must be brilliant. She figured all that out on her own, without Prothean tech."

"I guess it makes sense if you let the pieces fall together. Her biotics will be useful if we need her on the front lines, though," Ashley said.

Ferin gingerly touched the side of her face, where the krogan had punched her earlier. She had a black eye and some brilliant bruising along the entire left half of her face, but at least there weren't any breaks.

"I heard you killed a krogan with that sword of yours."

"Yeah."

Ashley shook her head. "I always thought the sword was kind of silly, ma'am. Guess I was wrong."

"It's better than an omni-blade for close quarters."

"Yes, ma'am."

"You guys don't need to hang around, by the way."

After a moment, Kaidan and Ashley saluted, and walked out of the conference room. Ferin sat alone, stewing in her thoughts as she gently rubbed her forehead.

"Commander. The Council is requesting a status update. Want me to patch you through to them?"

"Do it."

A moment later, the three Councilors appeared at the head of the room. Ferin stood and walked over to the quantum entangler so that she'd be visible to them as well. Only the salarian councilor seemed to react to the injuries on her face, with a slight twitch of his head and a surprised inhalation. The asari councilor - Councilor Tevos - spoke first, as usual.

"Greetings, Commander. We have received your report on the events at Therum. Good work."

Councilor Sparatus, the turian councilor, looked disparagingly at Ferin. "Yes...if one can consider the destruction of a major Prothean ruin to be good work. Was that really necessary, Commander?"

"It was that or die, Councilor. The geth were crawling all over the ruins, and we had to extract Dr. T'Soni." It was a slight exaggeration, but all of them _had _nearly died.

"Of course we understand," Councilor Valern said. "The mission is always the priority, Commander."

After giving Valern a glance somewhat filled with animosity, Sparatus continued talking. "We understand that Dr. T'Soni is onboard the Normandy now. We hope that you are taking the necessary precautions, given her family's ties to Saren."

"Liara has been estranged from her mother for decades and possesses no knowledge of Saren's plot. Her knowledge of the Protheans may be useful, however, as Saren is pursuing a Prothean artifact. I intend to add her to my crew."

"Of course, Commander, it is your decision what you do. We assume you are headed to Feros next?"

"Yes, Councilor."

"Be warned. We've received reports that all is not well on Feros. While the geth have departed the planet - some time ago - we dispatched a small team of four STG operatives to the planet to investigate. They reported that they had encountered survivors at Zhu's Hope and were providing aid. However, their reports soon changed to report that the survivors were acting strangely, and transmissions entirely ceased soon after."

"Understood, Councilor."

"Good luck, Shepard."

The three councilors flickered, dissipating into static before the transmission ended. Ferin sighed, sitting down.

"Joker."

"Yes, Commander?"

"Set a course for the Citadel. We need to refuel and rearm. I'm going to place some requisitions, too. Need more heavy weaponry on the ground. And...I'll give the crew 72 hours shore leave once we get there. We're heading to Feros after this."

"Understood, Commander. Already on our way."

After a moment, Ferin stood. _I'd better check on the crew...Wrex seemed upset, and I should see if Miranda and Liara are alright._ She left the conference room, going down the stairs and heading into the medbay. Dr. Chakwas held up a finger as she manipulated one of the machines.

"What're you up to, doc?"

"Giving our new XO an MRI. You should have sent her straight to me. Head trauma's not a joke, Commander."

"I know, but she was insistent that she was alright."

"That's the problem with you combat grunts. It's all about how you're tough. Tough doesn't mean stupid."

Ferin smiled. "I'll keep that in mind, doc. How's Liara?"

"Our new asari? She's resting in the back. I wouldn't disturb her at the moment, she's been through quite a bit today. I must say, Shepard, you've amassed quite a large number of non-humans."

"All of them helpful."

"No doubt, Shepard. I'm sure we will become fast friends. It will be quite an experience working alongside so many races together - I'm quite looking forward to it. In the meantime, however, I need to keep examining the Major, who apparently believes that appearing tough is more important than possessing a working brain. Not that it seems she needs it."

"Doctor, I can hear every word you're saying."

"I know. Maybe next time you'll come straight to me, Ms. Lawson."

Ferin smiled. "Get her up and ready. I'm sure we'll need her expertise on the field again soon. Even if it's just to take headshots so the rest of us don't get shot."

"Dr. Chakwas, please let Shepard know that in the next firefight, I'll be taking cover behind her. Not that it'll help me against a headshot, since she's so bloody short."

Ferin laughed. "I'll be by a little later to check on them, doc."

"Alright, commander. Were you wounded at all while on that ghastly planet?"

"No, I'm good. A couple of grazing wounds, but nothing I needed more than medigel for."

"Unlike Garrus and Miranda, here. Garrus at least had the good sense to come to me before the debriefing. Bandaged him right up."

Shaking her head, Ferin turned and left the medbay, taking the elevator down to the armory. Wrex was leaning in his corner as usual, apparently having regained his composure. Garrus was off by the Mako again, although he was working on his own weapons this time - Ashley was nowhere to be seen. Ferin headed over to Wrex.

"You alright, big guy?"

"Fine, Shepard. That asari just hit a nerve."

"About your people?"

He sighed heavily. "Yeah. She was right, Shepard. My people are dying. Stagnated and dying, and not a warrior's death. We're slowly fading away. No warrior, no_ race_ of warriors should die like that," he said, his anger growing. "And it's all thanks to the genophage."

"The turians sterilized you."

"Yeah. Salarians' idea. And now my people have given up on themselves. Have you ever seen Tuchanka, Shepard?"

"No."

"It's a wasteland. There's nothing there, for anyone. It's just rubble and radiation. So my people go offworld. And there's only one thing we're good at - damn good - and it's fighting. So we become mercs and we drift around and we never come back. After all, what's the point? Most of our offspring are born dead. A krogan can mate a thousand times and only one of his kids will live."

"Why doesn't anyone try to cure the genophage?"

Wrex snorted. "Who'd want to do it? The salarians don't. They're afraid of us. The turians? They released it in the first place. The asari don't care, they're too busy glorifying their culture. And you humans are too busy with your own "problems" to care about a race the rest of the galaxy has left for dead. And a krogan? Hah. Ask a krogan if he'd rather have a good fight or cure the genophage, he'll pick the fight every time. It's in our blood, Shepard. It's who we are, all we know."

Ferin was lost for words. There wasn't really anything anyone could say to console someone about a fate like the one the krogan were undergoing. There wasn't anything she could do about it, anything that could really make him feel better about it. "I'm sorry, Wrex."

"Yeah."

"Let me know if you need anything."

"Still waiting on that bed. Oh, and Shepard? I damn well told you so back on Therum. If you'd listened to me, maybe our resident turian wouldn't have those holes in him. Or your new female wouldn't have gotten shot in the head."

"Yeah, yeah, Wrex. I'll buy you some ryncol when we get to the Citadel."

"Hmph. Better take me on the next mission, anyway."

"Deal, Wrex."

She headed across the floor to Garrus. "Hey, Garrus. Good work back there on Therum."

"Thanks, Shepard. You didn't do so bad, yourself. When I saw you charging that krogan, I had to look again. Normally it's the krogan who charge."

She laughed. "Do the unexpected."

"I'm glad to be on board, Shepard. I really am looking forward to working with you."

"Why?"

"Well, you know how I felt about C-Sec. But out here...we can run and gun, we can take out the damn criminals without having a mile of paperwork to fill out beforehand. It shouldn't matter how the job is done as long as it's done, and the Spectres understand that. I've never gotten to work with a Spectre before, but I think it'll be freeing to see life outside a rigid hierarchy like the Turian Army, or without being strangled by red tape."

"Tell me about your time in the Turian Army."

He laughed. "Not much to say. Went to basic training when I was 15 like every other turian. I got trained as a sniper."

"Really? That's my primary training as well."

"Yeah, but it's not the same. Our snipers are different from human ones. I don't know if our roles make us more effective or not than human snipers. For one thing, we don't use those fancy cloaks you humans do."

"You mean ghillie suits?"

"Not just those. That thing you do when you go invisible. We don't do that. We don't really infiltrate - we're frontline combat units on support roles. That's also why we always have heavy arms. Most of the time when we were in combat, I had a Krysae in my arms, my spotter had a Phaeston, and both of us were carrying Tyronaeus rocket launchers - they're a lot like the Alliance's Javelin missiles, but they're shoulder-fired and miniaturized. Dark energy warp fields when they hit, in addition to the normal explosion. Very dangerous. You humans, though, your snipers don't carry heavy arms, they have their sniper rifles, assault rifles, some mines, then they slip behind enemy lines."

She nodded. "Then we target supply routes, officers, and vehicles."

"Right. We take out officers when we see them, but we advance as part of an infantry platoon. We don't go out on our own, we don't infiltrate. We're experts with rifles and heavy munitions."

"Good things to have expertise with."

"Yeah. Anyway, I did my fifteen years in the Turian Army. Actually, I fought in what you humans call the First Contact War."

"Really? How old are you, Garrus?"

"I'm only 43 years old by the human calendar. I was born in your people's 2140. "

"Where were you?"

"I was deployed on Shanxi. I was part of the occupation force."

"Hm." The revelation didn't really bother Ferin. The First Contact War, while having only been a few decades ago, was old history to her, and the turians were worthy allies. "What happened when the Alliance came back for it?"

"That was the first time I encountered human snipers. We'd overcome the original garrison after about a month of combat - General Williams surrendered when we started bombarding the planet with meteors - and we settled in. Got complacent, thought we'd wiped the human fleet out. Our intel really dropped the ball there."

"Yeah, I'll say. Y'all took out what, thirty frigates in the first month?"

"Something like that. A few patrols, the first ships we saw. We'd never encountered humans before, we thought you had just discovered space flight - I mean, you humans were using explosive firearms - that tech is _ancient_. Regardless, they pronounced a victory, we dug in. A few weeks later, an actual fleet arrived and beat us up pretty badly."

"You mentioned human snipers?"

"Oh, right. Well, the humans were orbitally deploying onto the planet, so we prepared for some ground warfare. We got in our formations in defensive postures, prepared to meet your attack head-on."

"And?"

"Our commanders made a mistake, an easy one to make, but no less forgivable. They assumed you would attack us head-on and attempt to take our strongpoints. Instead, over the next few weeks, we saw almost no combat. Isolated skirmishes with Alliance patrols, but we were taking a lot of casualties. Our supplies were being raided, which was a problem, since we couldn't eat levo-amino foods, and that was all that was on Shanxi. Our officers were suddenly having bullets put through their hearts. It got to the point where officers were actually trying to suppress the hierarchy and stop soldiers from saluting them - standard protocol for the Alliance, I believe, due to your own experiences with enemy snipers - but unthinkable in the turian mindset. I had a run-in with a sniper team, as a matter of fact."

"What happened?"

"There was a particularly effective team of snipers in our AO. They'd ambushed at least a dozen supply convoys. They'd upgraded their own weapons and were using our own sniper rifles against us, our own mines against us - they'd trigger mines on either side of the convoy, destroying the first and the last vehicles, then they'd open fire with anti-materiel rifles and wipe out the crew. So they picked a squad of counter-snipers to find and kill them. I was selected, along with my spotter, Quentus. We thought we'd found the team's camp for the night, and were waiting for them to show up - there was a campfire ready to be lit, a makeshift tent, a couple sleeping mats."

"And?"

"Well, they'd known that we were hunting them, and had set up decoys in the forest. We'd been waiting for an hour when the first bullet hit Quentus. Went straight through his chest and into my arm. I dropped and played dead - I knew there was no chance that I'd be able to return fire and hit them when they already had us sighted - but Quentus wasn't so lucky. He was thrashing on the ground and took another two bullets through the chest. I was the only one of that squad to survive. We got pulled out right after."

"You don't have any animosity towards humans after that?"

"On the contrary, Ferin. I respect humans immensely. You're flexible and adaptable. We had you outgunned and outmanned, and you inflicted more casualties on us then we did on you - the turian military's failing has always been our rigidness. Don't get me wrong, our military is extremely effective, but we're not fluid like humans are. I think we could have learned from you, but the Relay Incident ended and we returned home."

"Hmm. How'd you end up in C-Sec?"

"Just followed in my father's footsteps, really. It was good, at first, when I was just a patrol officer, but the longer I was there, the more regulations got thrown at me until I just couldn't do my job anymore."

"Regulations are normally there for a reason, you know, Garrus."

"Yes, but they shouldn't keep you from doing your job. If I take down a dangerous criminal, why should it matter if I had to shoot him or intimidate a few witnesses? But fighting alongside a Spectre, I don't have to worry about that. As long as we do our job, nobody questions how we did it. We saw that on Therum - we blew up an entire archeological dig, and no one batted an eye."

"Sparatus chewed me out a little."

"But we're still on the mission. Sure they may bark a little, but it's not unacceptable. I mean...well, I don't know. I just know that right here, I'm making a difference. And fighting a rogue Spectre, countless lives on the line, the galaxy at stake, and no playbook as to how we stop him is a hell of a lot better than pushing pencils at C-Sec."

"Fair enough, Garrus."

"You know, I wanted to become a Spectre once. My father talked me out of accepting evaluation, though."

"Wait, you were evaluated to become a Spectre?"

"No, my father - he's a real by-the-book kind of man, he actually hates the Spectres - talked me out of becoming one. He hates the idea of an organization like the Spectres, that can do whatever they want, with no oversight or rules. Thinks it's dangerous. That's why he became a detective in C-Sec. His mantra was "Do things right or don't do them at all." Anyway, I was also one of about a thousand turians who were picked from the military as potential Spectres, so it wasn't really like it was a gigantic honor - only a few of them are ever selected."

"Mm. Still, you aren't disappointed that you didn't go?"

"I don't know. I'm curious to see how Spectres do things - that's part of why I'm looking forward so much to working with you. I want to learn about life outside the regulations."

"Well, I'm glad to have you here, Garrus. You're a damn fine soldier."

"Thanks, Shepard. I'd better get back to cleaning my guns. Don't want them jamming on me next time we're in a life-and-death battle and all of us get shot. Oh, and by the way, can you see about getting some decent dextro-amino food on the Normandy? Tali and I are dying, eating nutrient paste while all the crew get solid food."

Ferin smiled. "Yeah. Hope you're not expecting gourmet food, but I'll get some provisions for you on the Citadel."

She clapped Garrus on the good shoulder and headed back to Engineering, to find Tali asleep on a small mat. Deciding not to wake the quarian, she headed back up to her quarters, sitting down and checking her email. There wasn't anything interesting, although she did remember Admiral Kahoku's email. She decided to respond, asking for more information on the missing Marines and their mission. As she sent the message, she felt exhaustion hit her all at once. After the adrenaline of the mission and the weighty affairs they'd been discussing, she'd been feeling restless and alert, but she was hitting her crash. Even with the implants that were managing all her hormones, the human body still injected that massive amount of norepinephrine after a massive adrenaline rush - it was just biology. She stood, using the bathroom, washing her hands and face, and brushing her teeth, then turned off the lights in her room and crawled into the bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

When Ferin woke up, she was feeling deliciously comfortable. It was with considerable reluctance that she sat up and climbed out of bed, yawning as she got dressed. She walked over to her computer terminal, checking for new messages. Nothing, yet. She turned and checked the galaxy map - they were already docked in the Citadel. _Crew's probably already off on libo_. She stretched, then headed downstairs. True to her prediction, the ship was empty, only a few Marines on guard duty who saluted her as she walked past. She spent another hour onboard the empty Normandy, making a list of the things she needed to purchase or requisition from command - dextro-amino provisions, more beds, a krogan bed, armory licenses so they could requisition equipment while in the field, higher-grade body armor for the Marines onboard the Normandy.

Once she was ready, she headed out of the ship, strolling through the docking bay towards the elevator and taking it up to the Presidium. She wandered the streets looking for a restaurant with some decent food - she was in the mood for asari - when she saw Miranda sitting in a cafe with a man she hadn't seen before. Ferin was instantly curious, although she knew it was none of her business - it seemed to her Miranda wasn't the type to go out and get a date immediately, and there wasn't a single N7 she had ever met who was able to maintain a long-term relationship or stay married. It was just part of the job, part of the territory. Miranda hadn't noticed her, so she headed to a shop across the street, sitting down and ordering a coffee. She noticed an oddly familiar insignia on the man's lapel - it was an irregular hexagon, broken at the bottom, with two lines on either side of it, but she couldn't place it. The way Miranda was holding herself made her think that it wasn't a date, now - she was sitting too formally. In fact, it seemed like she was meeting with...the insignia came back to Ferin. She'd seen it on an Alliance soldier once, several years ago. During N6 training, Kai, her fireteam buddy, had had the same insignia, although she'd only glimpsed it in passing once. They'd fallen out of touch after they'd completed N6 and moved on to the N7 course, but they'd been close friends - closer than friends, in fact - during the punishing year-long training. _I wonder if that's Miranda's handler in Cerberus...and if so, what he's saying_.

The man was Caucasian, with brown hair with a few streaks of grey, maybe 50 or 60 years old, which meant he had been born in the era before widespread gene modifications and extended longevity treatments. His hair wasn't cut to military-regulation, although that meant nothing in a Special Forces outfit like N7, and she assumed Cerberus as well. He was clean-shaven, dressed impeccably in a sharp suit - possibly Armani or even Petrucci. He was actually very handsome - he gave off an aura of power that Ferin could feel, even across the street from him and separated by two layers of transparent plastic. She rested her chin on her hand, thinking, as the man pulled out a small envelope and handed it to Miranda. Ferin froze as the mysterious man looked directly at her, making eye contact with her. His eyes were...an incredible shade of blue, but were clearly cybernetic. He winked, returning his gaze to Miranda, and said something else, before he stood up. As he walked away, a vaguely familiar black-clad man Ferin hadn't noticed earlier, with a curved sword similar to her own strapped to his back, joined him. A moment later, Miranda walked out of the cafe, heading for Ferin. She sat down across from Ferin, waving off the waiter who headed for her.

"Good morning, Ferin."

"Morning, Miranda."

After Therum, Ferin had warmed up to Miranda considerably. Although she was still a little irritated that the woman had gone around her and forced her way onboard the Normandy, she had to admit the woman was skilled - hell, she'd saved her from at least a long fall. But it was more than that. There was something about combat that made people bond, regardless of their past. Maybe it was the fact that no matter what, in combat, you were trusting them with your life - you couldn't even move in a combat formation without trusting everyone else implicitly, as they had to be watching their sectors or an ambush would never be noticed. Regardless, Ferin felt a lot more comfortable with Miranda now, even friendly. "Who was that?"

Miranda hesitated a moment, before she responded somewhat evasively. "He's a contact of mine in Cerberus."

Ferin drummed her fingers along her glass distractedly, then looked over at Miranda.

"You alright, Ferin?"

"Yeah. Just surprised. What'd he want?"

"Just had some instructions for me. No big deal."

Ferin took that to mean she couldn't talk about it. "Well. You got any plans, Miranda?"

"Nope. Just resting. Doctor Chakwas doesn't want me to do anything athletic for the next week. I'm not even supposed to drink alcohol."

"Not supposed to?"

"I already broke that rule." They both laughed for a moment. "What about you?"

"Just going to pick up some stuff for the Normandy. Maybe try to get a krogan bed for Wrex, he's been complaining, better accommodations for our non-human crew members."

"I'm sure they'll appreciate it. That's it? You're not taking any shore leave of your own?"

"No, too much to do. Planning, gathering intel on Feros. A salarian STG team went dark yesterday, according to the Council, but the geth are gone, so they don't know what happened."

"Hmm. Using Alliance resources to scout then?"

"Pretty much. Satellites in orbit, I might see if I can pull an N7 team to get in there."

"All work and no play."

"The life of a CO," Ferin said with a smile. "It's not so bad. I wouldn't mind hitting up a bar, but I just don't have time."

"Fair enough. Well, I think you'll probably be finding me at Purgatory."

"Mm. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Come on, Shepard, you know shore leave is all about drinking alcohol and bad decisions."

She laughed. "Have fun, Miranda."

"I will. You should join me, Ferin. De-stress. And they've got good liquor there. No human whiskeys, but they've got some wonderful asari wines, some good krogan spirits, plenty of human beers."

"Maybe I'll take you up on that."

"I think you should. I-"

A familiar voice, with a pronounced southeastern U.S. accent, came from out of nowhere. "Hey, Feral!"

Ferin turned, although she hadn't responded to that nickname in years. "What...?"

"It's me, sugar. Finch. How you doing, honey?"

Ferin opened her mouth in surprise, but had no words to say. Bad memories, bad times came flooding back into her mind - scrambling to survive in the massive metropolis of Atlanta, meeting the 10th Street Reds, eventually being inducted into their violent ranks. Finch, the charismatic lieutenant who'd taken her under his wing, giving her the nickname "Feral" from her name and from her appearance when she'd joined up. And now, the man was here - looking different but so much the same. The yellow teeth, with the gaps, the scars across his face, the dark brown eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Whoa, ease up there, sugar. I just happened to be on the Citadel and I saw an old friend. It ain't like we didn't used to be close."

Miranda raised an eyebrow. "Someone you know, Ferin?"

"Hah. Gave up your li'l nickname, eh, Feral? I remember how proud you were of that when I first called you it. But I guess you've been trying to forget us for a long time, huh? But it's alright, sweetheart, I forgive you. But the 10th Street Reds don't forget one of their own, even if she's gone off to become a big Alliance hero."

"What do you want, Finch?"

"I don't want anything, Shepard. I mean, I could ask for a favor or two, maybe, but I just wanted to catch up with you. Rehash the old times, you know. Remember that Serpent from back in the day? God, that was a long night. Using that car battery, all them wires...you were pretty good with that knife, though. And hell, it was all worth it afterward. Remember what we did? I was surprised we never done it sooner, but I could deal with the waiting."

Ferin looked at Miranda quickly, then back at Finch. "Shut it, Finch. Those days are over."

"Oh, I'm sure. I ain't here to ask you to come back to your brothers and sisters. We get it. Lieutenant...Colonel...Shepard, hero of the Systems Alliance ain't gonna come back down to some lowly street gang. She's better than us now."

"That's not why I left, and you know it, Finch."

"Shit, you even talk different now. You really tried so hard to erase us from your mind, didn't you? Well, Feral -"

"That's not my name."

"Oh, I'm sorry, honey. Well, Feral, I got a favor to ask you."

"What makes you think I'd do anything for you?"

"You know, I gotta wonder if you ever told anyone in the galaxy about the 10th Street Reds. God knows that everyone'd have to look at you twice if they knew that you used to be a lowly criminal just like us, instead of the angelic Ferin Shepard."

Ferin sighed, rubbing her temples. "Just tell me what you want."

"Oh, alright. As long as I ain't offending you. By the way, you ain't introduced me to the little lady at your side. My name's Finch. Finch Bell, at your service. May I ask your name?" He extended his hand.

Miranda could see the distrust and agitation coming off of Ferin. Making no move to accept his extended hand, she uttered a curt "No."

"Huh. You need to teach your new friends some manners, Fera-I'm sorry, Ferin. Eventually they're gonna run into a tight spot and get punished for their lack of common courtesy." His eyes wandered over Miranda's body as he spoke. Ferin, feeling an odd surge of protectiveness, crossed her arms. "Just tell me what you want, Finch."

"Alright, alright. There's a buddy of mine - joined up way after you left - who was traveling through turian space, just mindin' his own business, when the turians arrested him on some minor charges. Needless to say, it's all a crock of shit. He's bein' held here on the Citadel while they arrange transportation to Palaven for him. He gets there, he's done, the turians ain't gonna ever let him out, no matter how small his crime was. But you, you're a Spectre now. You got the authority to do anything...including helping out your old brothers and sisters, one last time."

"What are these minor charges, Finch?"

"So maybe he had some illegal tech with him. So what? He was just passing through. Anyway, the turian bossman is in this club, named Purgatory. Go talk to him, see what you can do. The 10th Street Reds would appreciate it."

"Fine, Finch. But I better never see you again after this."

"Don't talk like that, Ferin. I remember how happy you used to be to see me."

"I was fifteen, Finch. I get the world better now."

"Yeah, whatever. Go on, spring Curt. I'll be waiting in Chora's Den. I heard they got new management, now, though no one wants to tell me why."

"Let's go."

Ferin turned away from the gang member, walking away in disgust. Miranda walked beside her in silence. Finally, when they turned the street, Ferin sighed, then spun and kicked a wall.

"Easy there, Em. What's going on? I've heard of the 10th Street Reds, but..."

"It's nothing. I just used to know Finch. I...used to be a Red. I'm not proud of those days, but they're behind me now."

"How'd you get involved with them?"

Ferin laughed humorlessly. "Bad luck. I was living on the streets in Atlanta. My..." she sighed. "My mother was a criminal. Prostitute, murderer, drug addict - I never really knew her. She had me while she was in prison and then died. I was in the state foster system for a while, but I ran away when I was eight."

"Why?"

"...Life in the orphanage wasn't bad. They were kind and treated us good. But...I don't know. I ran away and I spent a couple years on the streets, stealing to get by. Then I ran into this 13-year-old kid. I don't know. He helped me out. We eventually became friends, he introduced me to his friends, I guess I just became part of life. Eventually they asked me to formally join the Reds - I was 13 - I said yeah, and I joined up. Spent a few years with them."

"And Finch?"

"He was the kid who brought me in. I...I don't know. I belonged with them, or at least, I thought I did."

"What happened?"

"Why are you so curious, Miranda?"

"I don't know. I just feel like I should help you somehow if I can."

Ferin sighed. Finally, she shook her head. "I...I'd just rather not talk about it. Thanks, though...Miranda."

"I understand. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you, Em."

Ferin forced a slight laugh. "Thanks. By the way, how long has Cerberus been watching me? No one's called me Em since...since I switched to N-School."

"A lot of mutual friends are contacts of mine. And...I don't know, it seems right for you. You don't mind, do you, Commander?"

"Nah. But listen, can I ask you for a favor?"

"Of course."

"Can you go get what I needed for the Normandy? Use the Alliance funding we have."

"Yeah. Just send me the list."

"Alright. Thanks, Miranda."

"Don't mention it. Watch your back with the Reds."

"I'll be careful. I'll see you back on the Normandy."

Miranda nodded and walked away. Before Ferin rose, she forwarded the list of items she needed on board the Normandy to Miranda - dextro-amino food supplies, alien beds, ammunition, medical, weapons and armor upgrades - with Spectre status, she could access prototype upgrades that no one else in the galaxy had, and some luxury items - chocolate, wines and whiskeys, some books to read in her spare time, and a small hamster. She sighed, looking around the Presidium, which was beautiful as always. It was a cool 18 degrees by the Celsius scale on the Presidium - a point of contention among the races. The asari, salarians, and humans, along with many other sentient races found 18 degrees to be very comfortable for them. However, turians, who had evolved on Palaven - a planet exposed to intense solar radiation - found it uncomfortably cold. Though Palaven was not as hot as would be expected, it was about 31 degrees on average. Similarly, volus, hailing from Irune, found it extremely hot - their planet, aside from being ammonia-based, high-gravity, and high-pressure, was about 9 degrees on hot days - and were forced to use their exosuits to compensate for the heat. Ferin herself found the Citadel a little chilly - having grown up in Georgia, she was accustomed to temperatures more similar to Palaven, although much of her training had been conducted in arctic conditions. Regardless, there was a complaint every week from at least one race about the Citadel's settings - either it was too dry, or too wet, or the day/night cycles needed to be changed, or the temperature, or any of a myriad of other problems from running a galactic space station. _And all of this is me trying not to think about the goddamn Reds_, Ferin thought with a sigh, returning her thoughts to the problem at hand. _I guess I should just talk to the turian soldier, first. Maybe he'll have some kind of insight._

Reluctantly, she stood and started heading for Purgatory. She half-hoped as she walked that she'd bump into Kaidan or Ash. Of course, she didn't. The Citadel was a big place, and they had no reason to be in the streets where she was. Most likely, Kaidan would be up in the Embassies, enjoying a nice free meal at the restaurant up there. Ash would probably be out drinking alcohol and cursing the 27.6-hour days of the Presidium. What would the others be doing? She didn't know Liara too well. Quarians weren't well-received on the Citadel...maybe Tali would be out, or maybe she was still in the Normandy. Ferin hadn't checked the engine room. Wrex was going to be down in the wards. Garrus, maybe at C-Sec. She sighed as she found herself at Purgatory. The bouncer looked at her, then scanned her with his omni-tool as she crossed her arms - although, to be fair, she wasn't wearing clothes for clubbing - just some casual clothing - some of the retro denim jeans that were popular in the 20th and 21st centuries, a plain pink tank top, tan combat boots. He nodded as the scanner revealed her as someone who wasn't banned from the club and who had no known felonies. _If only he knew_, she thought to herself darkly as she remembered her days on Earth again.

Once in the club, she had little difficulty locating the turian soldier who was overseeing the prisoner. While the Red wasn't in the club, obviously, the turian was relaxing in a lounge alone, still wearing the black and dark gold armor of the Turian Army's renowned 26th Armiger Legion. He lowered his glass, frowning as Ferin approached him, sitting down beside him.

"What do you want, human?"

"Had a question for you."

"Yes, I fought in the Relay incident when your people decided to enter the galaxy as bloodily as possible. Goodbye."

"You really shouldn't be so rude to a Council Spectre."

"There are no human Spectres...wait, are you this Colonel Shepard I keep hearing about?"

"Yeah. That's me."

He grunted and set down his drink, crossing his arms.

"What can I do for you, ma'am?"

"You have a human in custody."

"That little shit? He's a piece of work, let me tell you."

"Why did you arrest him, sergeant?"

"We caught him trying to poison medical supplies that were bound for the colonies. The shit could've hurt millions of turians, although the idiot didn't know that cyanide isn't as goddamn poisonous to turians as it is to your fragile race. What's it to you, Spectre?"

" It's...it's nothing at all, Sergeant. Thank you for your time."

"Yeah."

She stood up, leaving the club. The krogan bouncer crossed his arms and watched her in irritation as she walked past, leaving the bar and the bouncer far behind and sitting down on a bench in an empty park. Finch appeared a few minutes later, to her surprise and irritation.

"Feral."

"What do you want, Finch?"

"I should've known you'd pussy out on helping out your old friends. You never were one to value loyalty much, were you, Ferin?"

"Finch," Ferin sighed, "how'd you find me?"

He laughed. "The great Commander Ferin Shepard? You thought we wouldn't recognize you, when your face is on every fucking TV in Council Space? Even after all these years, we still remember that face of yours. Hell, I still remember that body of yours. You still like it rough, Feral?"

Ferin didn't rise to the bait. She was quickly realizing what she'd have to do to get the Reds...or at least Finch...off her back. "No, Finch. I mean, how'd you find me in this park?"

"The Reds have eyes everywhere."

"You're a bunch of petty terrorists, Finch. Who was it?"

He laughed. "There's more than one C-Sec officer who's pissed that you shut down their favorite bar. And C-Sec's practically as corrupt as the goddamn Atlanta PD."

Ferin shook her head and stood. "Harkin," she said, spitting on the ground. "Finch, leave me be."

"I don't think so. I think that since you ain't got no loyalty to the Reds, we don't have none to you either. So how's this. I go and let everyone know just exactly who the great Commander Shepard is. A former Red. A murderer. A fucking slut."

"Finch, I'm giving this chance to you out of respect for what you did for me once. Walk away, leave me alone. If you don't take it..."

"What, you'll shoot me? Just another murder, out here in the middle of the freaking Citadel?"

Ferin sighed. "No, not shoot."

She stepped forward, her omni-blade appearing mounted on her wrist suddenly, glowing orange and blue. Finch had no time to react - no time to even process Ferin's actions - as she punched the man in the chest, shattering his sternum, while the blade itself pierced his heart and both his lungs, knocking the breath out of the man and paralyzing him with pain. Ferin held the man upright, embracing him as she pulled the blade out of the wound and allowed it to fold and dissipate into her omni-tool again, and gently lowered him to the ground. His deflated lungs were unable to hold the air he needed to speak, and his mouth moved silently as he stared at Ferin. After a moment, his head fell back and he stared up at the Presidium sky, a pool of blood forming around him already. Ferin looked down at herself. The gaping wound in the man's chest had splattered blood across her breasts and her face as she'd lowered him to the ground. Her jeans and boots were stained from kneeling in it. Her hands were coated with blood. She shook her head and stood, stepping away from the body. She just felt tired. The Reds had never really left her, she supposed. Without a backwards glance at the man who'd once saved her life, she walked away, ignoring the horrified gasps of passers-by as she made her way slowly back to the Normandy. The Marines guarding the ship rushed to give her medical aid, assuming she was wounded, only falling back once she waved them back and made her way to her cabin at the top of the ship. The numb feeling still hadn't worn off, but she wanted to feel clean. She stripped out of the blood-stained clothes and walked into the bathroom, turning the steaming water on and allowing it to wash the blood off her face, out of her hair, off of her hands.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been standing in the shower when a knock came at her cabin door.

"Come in."

"Ferin? You alright?"

It was Miranda, again. The executive officer of her ship. Her fireteam buddy. She was surprised that the woman, a newcomer to the ship, had her back so thoroughly, but she supposed it was only natural. The two were both N7 - the only two onboard - and their positions as CO and XO meant that they had to work together as assuredly as Ferin would have had to work with her First Sergeant if she'd been in a regular unit. And, given the fact that she had no senior NCO, she had to work even more closely with Miranda. The woman, seeing that Ferin was in the shower, sat down at her desk, propping her feet up and leaning back. She looked around for the bottle of whiskey that Anderson had left, finding the half-empty bottle quickly and tipping it back into her mouth for a moment.

"I heard that C-Sec found a body on the Presidium. Seems that a certain Red met a violent demise."

"Mm."

"Are you okay, Em?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"You sure?"

Ferin paused, rinsing her hair. "I'm good, Miranda. He needed to die."

"I don't doubt that. But you said he saved your life. And I got the...undercurrent that the two of you used to mean a lot to each other."

"That was a long time ago, Miranda. Why do you care?"

"All of us need you at your best if we're going to stop Saren, Ferin."

_Saren..._it was strange. She'd forgotten about her mission in the last few hours. It hadn't seemed to matter. _Mission first. Men second. Myself last._

"Thanks, Miranda. I'm alright, I really am. I made my peace with what I had to do. He would have disrupted our mission at the best." She turned the water off and opened the door, stepping out and crossing the room to grab a towel from the wardrobe.

"I'm glad. I picked up the supplies you asked for, by the way. They're in the cargo bay."

Ferin turned to the XO, who was had found the shot glasses and was pouring herself some more whiskey.

"Pour me a shot, will you?"

"Yeah." Miranda handed Ferin a shot, then looked at her thoughtfully, before raising her own shot glass.

"Here's to us, and those like us."

Ferin changed the movement of her arm, raising the shot glass from her lips to the air.

"Damn few left."

They tossed back the shot glasses, grimacing as the liquor slid down their throats. Ferin started drying her hair as Miranda shook her head, setting the shot glass down on the end table beside the bed.

"You know, while I was working with Cerberus...we used to operate a lot like N7. I didn't realize it at the time - we weren't broken into ODAs like you guys, terminology wasn't the same - but we used to operate in teams, instead of solo."

"Yeah?"

"Yup. This would have been...you graduated N-School back in '76, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Back in '74. I was new to Cerberus at the time, before our organization...changed. Back then, we were under the command of a guy named Colonel Harper. He founded Cerberus with the authorization of General Williams - the last thing that general did in his career, and I'm sometimes surprised it didn't destroy Cerberus right there. But we grew, and we were operating in these little 6-man teams, all over the galaxy. We weren't compartmentalized back then - we were like any other Alliance unit, organized in our squads and platoons and our companies. Task org was real simple back then. Army Compartmentalized Elements was our parent unit."

Ferin raised her eyebrow. That was unit to which she belonged. "Really? How come none of us heard of you?"

"I'll get to it. Anyway, we were 1st Black Operations Group, 1st Battalion. There was Company A, B, and C - just like the organization of any other Alliance unit - then 4 platoons each and 6 squads of 6 men each in each platoon. I was 4th Squad, 2nd Platoon, Bandit Company. We were investigating some stuff with the batarians - back then, tension was even higher than it is now that the Hegemony's left Citadel Space - and the mission went sideways. Real bad."

"How's that?"

"We got blown in the center of the station. We'd infiltrated perfectly - almost bloodlessly, even. We'd retrieved the data the Illusive Man sent us in after, and we were starting to make our way out, when we got hit, hard, by batarian soldiers. A full platoon - in close quarters, on a batarian space station. 7-on-1 in those conditions, not even the best trained soldiers can hold their own. And they had drones, turrets, the whole 9 yards. But we damn well carried on, we made those bloody batarians pay for one of us they killed."

"And?"

"Back when I first joined Cerberus, my squad leader - a guy named White - was the evaluator. He watched every recruit - he tapped me for Cerberus - and he trained me, taught me a lot. I suppose he became a lot like a father to me over those four years. We'd almost made it to extract - we'd lost Salazar, Fredricks, and Zhang. It was me, Ramone, and White. Ramone - he had the data, he was the tech specialist - he took three rounds through his leg. Shattered his right fibula, snapped off part of his tibia, blew his kneecap clean off. I turned, provided suppressive fire while White started dragging him. We were close - only a hundred meters to the shuttle, the pilot was already ready to go - when White got hit, too. He was only hit twice - both non-lethal, but crippling. I couldn't see the wounds, I just knew they were bad. He was unconscious, Ramone was unconscious, but I couldn't just leave one of them. Ramone was a brother to me, White was a father. It was like picking between keeping my right arm or my right leg."

"What'd you do?"

"I threw smoke and a couple flashbangs. Scooped Ramone up in a fireman's carry, sprinted that hundred meters, loaded him into the shuttle, started to turn around to go get White."

"And?"

"One of the batarians - a captain, I think, although I didn't know his name - dragged White onto his knees and executed him in front of me. Shot him through the back of his head."

"...I'm sorry."

"I couldn't do anything. I activated the self-destruct sequences on the four lost operative's armor - incinerated their bodies with a small antimatter reaction - and caused pretty large amounts of damage to the ship. Pretty sure White's explosion killed that fucking batarian."

Ferin didn't respond. She was no stranger to loss. ODA 61127 was the most glaring loss, but there were plenty of others, and she empathized with Miranda.

"I didn't pull the trigger that killed White, but I was responsible for his death. I just...want you to know, Em, I understand what it means to be responsible for the death of someone you owe everything to."

"How do you know what I owe to Finch?"

She shrugged. "I'm good at reading people, Ferin. But I won't lie, I am concerned. Plenty of people look at you and see a well-adjusted person."

"I'm not a well-adjusted person?"

"You watched 11 people you fought and bled alongside die. You risked your life to pull those 11 people to safety just a year before in the face of certain death, and then every one of them was killed by those thresher maws on Akuze. Not just that, but you grew up without a mother or a father. You were born in a prison. You grew up in the slums of Atlanta. Regardless of how well you hide it, someone who's gone through all that has serious scars. Open wounds. Especially if they just had to kill someone they bonded with when they were young."

Ferin let out a soft, humorless laugh. "You a shrink or something?"

Miranda didn't respond. Finally, she let out a soft sigh.

"I'll be in the crew quarters if you need me for anything, Ferin. Any orders?"

It took Ferin a few moments to speak. "No. Crew has..." Ferin checked the clock on the end table. "What, 44 hours left of shore leave?"

"Yeah."

"Let them enjoy it. Make sure they're all back in 43 hours though, and ready to cast off. Feros is a major priority."

"Aye aye."

The woman hesitated a moment longer, then left the room. Ferin sighed, setting down the hair dryer and sitting down on the bed. If Smoke was still in charge of the Reds...he never had much in the way of brains. Besides, it was personal now. If the Reds operated the same way they'd used to, they wouldn't bother trying to ruin her reputation, now that she'd killed Finch. They'd want their own revenge, the way they always got it when one of their own was killed. She'd just have to be on her guard...it was too bad about Finch.

Honestly, Miranda had been completely right. Her life had been a life of loss. She'd loved and lost an immense amount over the last 28 years, and she'd caused loss to so many other people. Regardless of what she said to Miranda, she felt...conflicted. On the one hand, Finch had been an impediment to the mission. The mission always came first. Then the men. Her own feelings, her own life, always came last. But...she owed a debt to him. He'd found her starving on the streets and saved her life. He'd given her a family, shelter, belonging. It wasn't the kind of debt you could ever pay back. And now she'd never pay him back; she'd always be in debt to him. And more than that, they'd cared about each other in their own way for a long time. She couldn't reduce him to a target blocking the objective. He was a person she'd known well.

She made her way over to where Miranda had left the bottle of whiskey, frowning when she saw how little remained. She drained what was left in the bottle in a few gulps, and set it down on the desk carefully. She rummaged through one of the drawers, finding what she was looking for - Somnius, the standard issue painkiller for Systems Alliance personnel around the galaxy. Although you weren't supposed to take them with alcohol in your system - or when you weren't wounded - they were good sleeping pills too. She popped four, then crawled into the bed. She could puzzle over the Reds later. They'd be on Feros in under 60 hours, and her priority had to be Saren. Everything else could wait. As she drifted off to sleep, various faces drifted through her mind. Saren and Finch drifted in and out of her memories, distorting together into a nightmarish blend of turian and human features. Then, Kaidan, out of nowhere, bringing that odd, leaping sensation that seeing him always elicited. Miranda, who somehow elicited the same reaction. Ash, who'd already gained Ferin's respect and trust in the few short days they'd known each other. The last thing she saw before she slipped into the escape of sleep was Kaidan, gazing upwards at the sky with sorrow in his features.


	5. Chapter 5: Legacies of the Ancients

_Author's Note: I'm not by any means pleased by the quality of this or the last chapter, but I don't have much time to write these days. I'll probably be going back sometime and revising these chapters until I am satisfied, but that probably won't be for a long time, as I don't think I'm going to go back until I've at least finished this story. Also, my entire summer's booked from May until September and there won't be any updates during that time. Anyway, Feros._

* * *

Feros was a mess. As they landed, Ferin saw massive ruins - the planet had been a major Prothean hub, so that was no surprise - but what was surprising was the disrepair of the colony and the wreckages in the ExoGeni headquarters. She frowned as they descended onto the landing pad, before turning to the team she'd picked for the mission. Liara was accompanying them due to her expertise with all things Prothean, while Wrex and Kaidan were providing support. All three were suited up in armor - although the asari scientist looked very uncomfortable in her light armor, and with having a pistol attached to her him - and ready for a fight. Ferin had dispatched an N7 team to the planet surface two days ago, and they'd gone dark two hours ago - just the same as the Council's salarian STG team had. Whatever threat was on the planet was capable of eliminating a team of some of the most elite soldiers in the Systems Alliance, as well as expert spies and saboteurs like the STG. Ferin didn't want to spook the locals by arriving with too many men - they could be involved, or have the teams as hostages - but she had two platoons of Marines from the Normandy standing by ready to assist if necessary, under Miranda's command.

Ferin placed her combat helmet on her head, allowing the seals to attach and the visor to lock down. She turned to see Liara placing a mask over her mouth and nose, which quickly extended a sheet of a transparent synthetic material, molding to the shape of her head and locking into her armor. Kaidan had already suited up, and Wrex was wearing a disturbing helmet with large glowing circles where his eyes were. Liara gave her a thumbs up, while Wrex thumped his chest and Kaidan nodded to indicate they were ready to go. Ferin strode over to the loading ramp controls and lowered the ramp, her M4 held in her right hand as she hit the button.

It was storming heavily outside. Rain lashed across the loading ramp as the four team members strode down the ramp, and the planet was miserably cold - according to her visor's heads-up display, it was about 7 degrees outside. Ferin staggered as the wind gusted, splashing an inordinate amount of the freezing water against her armor, her visor registering the gust at 29 knots. Even with the waterproofing in the synthetic fibers, her camouflage quickly darkened with water, and although her armor was providing heating, it was too limited to keep her comfortable. She was surprised to see Wrex shivering a little. When he noticed her, he just snarled.

"Tuchanka's a lot warmer than here."

"I'll bet. Let's just get fucking moving," Kaidan said, his voice coming through as though filtered over her helmet radio. His navy blue armor, made from a different material and design from Ferin's, was truly waterproof, as it was completely coated in ceramic. Heavier, but it didn't leave most of his body covered with cloth like Ferin's armor did. She wiped some of the fog off of her visor, squinting as she started through the rain towards the structure of the colony of Zhu's Hope. With conditions as miserable as they were, she was surprised to see three colonists waiting for them. Ferin's senses were on full alert - the colonists were wearing casual clothing, no rainwear at all, and their clothes were already soaked through. They didn't even make a move to shelter their eyes or their faces from the harsh wind.

"Set helmet bands to victor hotel mike, five seven dot one one."

"Confirmed."

"Those guys are creeping me out, Shepard."

"Yeah, I know."

"Perhaps we should treat them as hostile?" Liara sounded worried.

"No, not yet."

"I'm sure we'll have to shoot them at some point," Wrex rumbled. "Might as well be now."

"No, Wrex. Come on, let's see what the hell's going on."

Ferin toggled her helmet mic, allowing her voice to be heard through the helmet as they reached the three colonists. One was a female, two males - they were wearing what you'd expect from colonists. Synthleather overalls, utility coveralls. "I'm Colonel Shepard with the Alliance Army. Are you from Zhu's Hope?"

The male in the middle responded. "Are you here to help us?"

"Yes. What is going on?"

"I'm..." the man hesitated for a moment, then his features twitched. "You should talk to Fai Dan He'll know what to say."

"Know what to say?"

"Yes. He's our leader. He's down in the main colony, probably in one of the container housing units. Please, hurry."

"That was odd," Kaidan remarked. "Know what to say?"

"Well, we already knew something was wrong with the colony. Let's talk to this Fai Dan. See what's going on."

"I guess..."

They trudged through the heavy rain. What was falling was thick, as the rain picked up particulates of the heavy dust floating in the air, almost like a really thin mud, coating Ferin's MultiCam armor in a slippery mess. Something about the dust seemed to drain the heat out of her - she could feel the cold seeping every second they remained outside.

"Not sure I would ever want to live on a colony like this," Kaidan muttered.

"I'm sure it is nicer when it isn't...miserable," Liara replied.

"Lock it up. Come on."

The four made their way against the gusts of freezing wind, finding an agitated, elderly Asian man leaning against a wall. He was dressed the same as the other colonists, but his age set him apart - he was probably around 70 years old, old enough to have seen the birth of space flight, with snow white hair and deep wrinkles on his face. He leaned heavily on his cane as Ferin approached. A female beside him, dressed in a security guard's uniform and with a Kessler pistol on her hip, stepped between them protectively as Ferin approached. She raised her hands to show she meant no harm. The man spoke.

"It's alright, Arcelia. Let me speak to them."

With a scowl, she stepped to the side.

"My name is Fai Dan. I am the leader of this colony. How can I help you?"

His voice was quite hoarse, and he squinted uncertainly at them. Ferin looked around.

"The colony's in bad shape. How did you weather the geth attack?"

"It was difficult. Many of my people lost their lives, but we fought the geth off for many hours until they left the planet. But...it seemed to me they were more interested in ExoGeni headquarters."

"There was another team here from the Alliance. Have you seen any trace of them?"

"I'm afraid you're the only Alliance soldiers that I've met. Perhaps they're at the headquarters."

Ferin frowned. The Marines had specifically informed her that they had arrived at Zhu's Hope and were making contact with the civilians. "What about your people? Have they seen them?"

"No. We are a very small community. I am sure that you have more important things to bother with than an old man and his friends."

"You don't need any assistance?"

"We will recover. We do not need assistance."

Ferin looked around at the crumbling ruins. If they were rebuilding, there weren't any signs of it."

"Are you sure, sir? We can provide building materials and food or medical supplies if you need them."

"I...you should speak to some of my people then. If you wish to assist, they have the specifics. May is in charge of restoring power. May O'Connell. Daven Reynolds is trying to get us food, and Macha Doyle is trying to fix the water pumps. I don't know what they need to get it all fixed, but they would know."

"Of course, sir. Let us know if you find any evidence of the Alliance Marines, will you?"

"Yes. Thank you, colonel."

He turned to talk to his...Ferin assumed his bodyguard. She turned to the others, soundproofing her visor and switching it to privacy mode.

"You notice that he didn't want help at first? It's like he wants us gone as fast as possible." Kaidan spoke thoughtfully. "And I'm sure he was lying about the Marines."

Liara nodded. "Which is not the reaction you would expect from a civilian who was just attacked by geth. I think we should be cautious, Commander. More than likely, the civilians have something to do with whatever is going on here."

"Wrex, what do you think?"

The krogan grunted. "This whole planet smells wrong. I don't know what it is. But there's something in the air that smells foul."

"Probably just the dust," Kaidan shrugged.

"Maybe. You want to talk to those colonists, Shepard?"

"Yeah. Let's see what they want done to help. We don't know if the civilians are just too scared to tell us what's going on, or if they're part of it. Assume friendly, expect hostile."

"You humans trust too much." Wrex shook his head as they moved back into the housing unit areas, quickly finding and speaking to the colonists Fai Dan had identified. All had odd speech patterns or statements, and refused to broach any topics outside of what they were trying to do to help the village. O'Connell needed old power cells from 2160-series nodules; Reynolds could hunt, but there was a particularly aggressive and dangerous varren alpha nearby that nearly killed him last time he tried to; Doyle needed the valves of the water mains to be reopened, but the flood waters from the rain were too high for her to reach the valves, and the rainwater was undrinkable due to the dust in it. The four reconvened outside of the small colony, near the entrance to the Prothean skyway that connected the colony and its spaceport to ExoGeni Corporation headquarters.

"Something's fucked with this colony."

"Yeah."

"I agree."

Wrex grunted in assent.

"I want to check out the ExoGeni HQ. If I had been on those teams, that's where I'd want to check out after seeing how odd the colonists were acting. Something in the records, try to find some answers."

"Or walk into an ambush."

She shrugged. "Let's go. Kaidan, point."

"Understood, Commander."

The four formed into a small wedge - Liara after some confusion - and started up the skyway. The rain had slowed somewhat, but was still coming down fairly hard, making it hard to see more than a hundred meters ahead. The thin, mud-like substance coated the ferrocrite that the Protheans had built the skyway out of, making footing treacherous in some places and forming deep puddles in others. All of the fireteam's members - even Wrex's 2,000 pound hulk - had slipped at least once, falling heavily and getting back up with oaths and bruises. A feeling of dread weighed heavily on Ferin, and she knew the others were uneasy, although there was no evidence of any hostile activity in the area. For some reason, the colonists had been acting extremely strangely, but she couldn't think of any logical reasons why they'd act the way they did. If they were hiding something, they'd have been trying to act more normal and looking more nervous. If they were innocent, why were they acting so strange? The only explanation she could think of was some kind of neurotoxin or drug, but even then, they retained full alertness, or so it seemed. She was glad now that they'd donned their helmets, providing them with filters against any toxins that might be in the air.

The six-kilometer walk was uneventful, but left the four feeling even more uneasy for the lack of activity. It had taken them about forty minutes to slug through the rain, but they arrived inside ExoGeni's headquarters without incident. At least indoors, the rain was partially stopped, although the ruins ensured that some rain was still getting in. Kaidan shook his head.

"Can't believe we've only been here for two hours."

"Feels like we've been on this planet for an eternity."

"Spread out. Kaidan, stick with me. Liara, go with Wrex. Look for any datapads or computers with information on the colony. Look especially for timelines or datalogs of the last few weeks. We'll take the bottom four floors, you guys take the top four."

"Let's go, asari."

Wrex stomped off towards the upper floors, followed by Liara, while Ferin and Kaidan stayed on the ground floor and looked for evidence there. The search proved fruitless, however. After an hour of searching, Ferin heard a call over her omni-tool.

"Shepard, you'd better get up here. Got something you should take a look at."

She quickly turned, tapping Kaidan on the shoulder as he browsed through a computer's data files. They quickly ran upstairs, moving lightly through the seventh floor and following Wrex's navpoint. They found him and Liara crouching in a small room, their weapons raised. Liara raised a finger to her lips and pointed to the opposite wall. Ferin crouched down and joined them with Kaidan. Liara spoke in a whisper.

"I saw armed mercenaries in the room on the other side of that wall."

"What kind?"

"They looked like Blue Suns. I'm not sure why they're here, but I figured it was best to treat them as though they were hostile."

"You did good, Liara."

Wrex rumbled in a somewhat quieter tone than usual, "Want me to bust through the wall and smoke them, Shepard?"

"Not yet, Wrex. I'm going to talk to them, see if they know anything. If shit goes sideways, go ahead and do your thing."

"Gladly."

"Kaidan, come with me. Liara, stay with Wrex."

"Okay."

They made their way around the corridors to the entrance to the room, stacking on the doorway. Ferin shouted into the room.

"My name is Colonel Shepard. I'm a Council Spectre!"

After a minute, a man's voice came back. He sounded panicked. "Stay back!"

"I'm here to investigate what's going on. I'm going to come into the room. Hold your fire."

Kaidan glanced at her, drawing his pistol. She nodded at him, motioning for him to be ready, then walked into the room, her hands up and her weapons holstered. Twelve mercs immediately raised their weapons, pointing them directly at her. There was a nervous-looking scientist in the back, rising from a chair in front of a computer, with the ExoGeni Corporation logo on his chest. Two females in the same uniform were tied up and gagged in a corner, along with some random people who seemed to just be researchers or workers for ExoGeni.

"Who are you? What do you want?!" The scientist shouted, raising a pistol himself with shaky hands. Ferin kept her voice low and soothing.

"I was sent to investigate some strange activity in the area. Geth-related, probably."

One of the mercs swore, his voice filtering out from his helmet. "Damn the Alliance. Where were you when the geth attacked? You only arrive after the attack's over and we've buried our dead."

"Lower your weapons. I mean no harm."

The mercs looked to the scientist, who hesitated before he nodded. They lowered the weapons, watching her suspiciously.

"Who are you?"

"I'm an ExoGeni manager. Jeong."

"There was an Alliance team and a salarian team in the area. They disappeared recently. Have you seen any trace of them?"

"Soldiers? No. We're just trying to recover what we can for ExoGeni. Scrub up and sanitize."

"Sanitize?"

"One of the females began grunting through her gag, apparently trying to say something to Ferin. The merc standing beside her smacked her in the temple with the butt of his rifle, knocking her onto the side and stunning her. She was the younger of the pair, probably around Ferin's age, and the two bore a strong family resemblance. Her chest rose and fell faintly as she emitted a soft groan from where she lay.

"Who are they?"

The weapons came back up. "Mind your own business."

"They look like ExoGeni employees to me," Ferin continued. "But I'm pretty sure there are laws against tying up your employees."

"I'm within my rights. They were engaged in-in corporate espionage!" Ferin narrowed her eyes as he made the claim. Things were very wrong. She decided to push him, see if she could get some answers.

"Really? I mentioned I'm a Council Spectre. I'm going to interrogate them."

"You can't. Besides, there are no human Spectres!"

"Have you not been watching the news? I'm the first."

"I don't care. You can't talk to them."

"Defying the Council?"

The scientist looked around helplessly, his frustration mounting.

"It's none of your business why I'm on Feros! Just...just leave and we won't have to hurt you!"

"Hurt me?" Ferin raised an eyebrow. "I'll give you one last chance. Let me talk to your captives."

The scientist gripped his Kessler pistol with two shaking hands, pointing it at her chest. "Stop!"

There was a roar from behind him. As he turned partially, the wall exploded outwards, Wrex bashing through the bricks like it was nothing. Ferin dropped prone instantly, as the guards started to shoot, drawing her pistol. Liara was close on Wrex's heels, flinging a biotic field at one of the mercs - Ferin saw him fly backwards incredibly fast, smashing into the opposite wall with a crack and crumpling to the ground. Kaidan, meanwhile, entered through the room, moving in a crouched run with his pistol up, firing at the mercs as he moved along the right side of the room. Wrex stepped on Jeong, crushing his chest with his massive bulk and blasting two mercs back with his shotgun. Kaidan had shot three of the mercs with his pistol and was taking cover behind a desk while they writhed on the ground. Liara, meanwhile, had killed two of the mercs with a warp field and a throw field, and created a singularity in the middle of the room. Ferin could instantly feel the gravity and tried to crawl out of the singularity's gravity field. Some of the mercs were less lucky, getting yanked off their field and drawn in. As Liara started to raise her pistol, intending to execute the mercs, a misaimed warp field from Kaidan collided with the singularity.

There was a blinding flash of purple light. Ferin felt herself flying across the room, her back slamming into the wall with an impact so hard that her eyes shook in their sockets, her teeth biting deeply into her tongue just before everything went dark.

Ferin opened her eyes, wincing. Her mouth tasted sour, filled with blood, and her entire body ached. She was lying face down on the ground, but it was completely dark and there was a heavy weight on her. She tried to move her arm, but found it pinned by something. With her other hand, she heaved, grunting as she managed to unpin her arm and levering rocks off of her. After a few seconds, she was rewarded with a shaft of gray light, blindingly bright. Squinting and shielding her eyes, she shoved more of the rubble off of herself and pulled her legs free of the collapse. She looked around the room, wincing. Wrex was nowhere to be seen. The two captives were lying in a heap against the wall to her right, which was somehow still intact. The room itself had partially collapsed, the rear of the room where Wrex had entered completely caved in. On her side, the floor was still intact, but the ceiling and wall she'd been thrown against had collapsed. Blue Suns mercs were scattered on the ground, a few buried under rubble, a few lying in the open, but all clearly dead. She stumbled to the side with a groan, feeling dizzy. Her pistol was missing, but the rest of her weapons remained attached to her body. It was hard to focus. She was thinking about the room one moment, then Finch flashed into her mind, then Earth, then back to Feros. _Where's...where's Garrus? Wait, he didn't come...Miranda, Tali? No...Kaidan! Liara? Wrex?_

She looked around, staggering out of the room to find Kaidan grappling in silence with a Blue Suns merc. She pulled her assault rifle to the ready, but found she couldn't focus on them, and her hands were shaking too much to fire accurately. It looked like Kaidan was shouting, but his mouth moved silently. Why wasn't he making any noise? She fumbled with her helmet, but found that it wasn't damaged and should've been receiving his signal fine. Maybe his was damaged. She saw the merc get his arm free, then an omni-blade appeared. His arm thrust forward...Kaidan created a long, thin biotic barrier as wide as his palm with a sweep of his hand, the merc's arm deflecting off of the barrier and missing. Kaidan swung behind the merc and forced him down onto his back, tripping the merc over his leg. As the merc landed heavily, Kaidan knelt on his chest, his left hand pinning the merc's omni-tool as purple energy coalesced in his right hand. The merc tried to punch Kaidan desperately with his other hand, but his strikes lacked leverage and were ineffectual. A moment later, Kaidan's right hand swung down, smashing into the merc's face and splattering blood across the floor. The merc kicked reflexively as Kaidan pulled his hand out of the merc's skull, turning to Ferin with a worried expression. He said something, but his helmet was still malfunctioning. Ferin shook her head.

"I can't hear you!" As she spoke, her eyes widened. She couldn't hear herself, either. She reached up for her ears, worried, pulling her helmet off of her head. Her hands came away from her ears wet with blood. Kaidan knelt beside her, frowning. No wonder she had no balance, couldn't hear...her inner ears were damaged. She grimaced, then spoke, although she couldn't hear her words.

"Where's Liara and Wrex?"

Kaidan shrugged, gesturing with his hands in sign language. He had no idea. A moment later, he raised his finger, getting an incoming transmission. He gestured downwards.

"They're downstairs?"

He nodded.

"They fell through the floor?"

He nodded again, then signed _They're not injured too badly_ with his hands. She swallowed thickly, nodding, then pulled herself upright. Without her ears working, it was hard for her to keep her balance, and eventually, she ended up with her arm around Kaidan's shoulders to help keep upright. They made their way downstairs to find Wrex standing guard over Liara, who was busily treating several open wounds from rock splinters that had pierced her shields and armor. They both rose when they saw Ferin being supported by Kaidan, Liara's mouth moving noiselessly. Wrex, who had removed his helmet, looked at Ferin questioningly, sniffing the air. He growled something - Ferin couldn't hear him, but she could feel the vibrations in her chest. Kaidan said something, then Liara nodded, kneeling down and rummaging through her combat aid pack. Meanwhile, Kaidan was on the radio with someone - Ferin assumed the Normandy.

The three sat where they were for around half an hour when Kaidan looked up, raising his rifle. Wrex stepped up beside him and brandished his shotgun, the two only relaxing when Miranda, Ashley, Garrus, and Tali came through the door. Kaidan knelt down and pulled Ferin's arm around his shoulders, pulling her upright. The two limped over to the four other team members, seeing about a dozen Marines kneeling on the other side of the door, their weapons pointed outwards as they pulled security. Miranda pulled Ferin's free arm around her shoulders, assisting Kaidan as they moved out of the headquarters to find the Normandy's shuttle outside, along with the M-35 Mako, another dozen Marines pulling security around the vehicles. They loaded Ferin into the shuttle, Liara and Kaidan jumping in beside her. She looked over at Miranda.

"Where are you going?"

Miranda signed back, _We're going to find out what's going on and see if we can find evidence on Saren. ExoGeni's obviously doing something wrong, and the LT says that the colonists were acting really strange. We'll get to the bottom of it. Just let the doctor take care of you._

After a moment, Ferin nodded. Miranda stepped backwards out of the shuttle and slammed the door shut, banging on it to signal the driver. Ferin looked down out of the shuttle as Miranda watched the shuttle take off, then saw Miranda turn and run back into ExoGeni headquarters.

Miranda looked around uncertainly as she strode through the headquarters. The Marines were busily performing SSE - searching for intelligence - while Ashley and Wrex were taking care of the two prisoners that had been held by ExoGeni. Ashley was mostly taking care of the two prisoners. She kicked a rock out of her way as she entered the room they'd been held in.

"Sergeant Williams."

"Yes, ma'am?" Ashley held a hint of malice in her voice. It was less pronounced, at least, than when she had first boarded the Normandy. Still, the NCO made it clear she didn't care for the woman.

"Take Wrex and oversee the SSE. I'm going to talk to them."

"Yes, ma'am."

She brushed past Miranda, Wrex following a moment later, leaving Miranda in the room with the two women. The younger of the two had a bad bruise above her left eye, and both looked malnourished. They'd certainly dug into the rations the Marines had provided them rapidly.

"My name is Miranda Lawson. I'm an...Alliance Marine." Miranda felt a twinge of guilt every time she claimed to still be in the Alliance. Still, what Em - Commander Shepard - didn't know, wouldn't hurt her. "We're on Feros to investigate what's going on, why the geth attacked. May I ask your names?"

The older one spoke. "I'm Juliana Baynham. This is my daughter, Lizbeth Baynham."

"It's good to meet you, Juliana. Are you alright?"

"Yes...I think so. We'll be alright, although that bastard Ethan was going to kill us."

"Ethan?"

"Ethan Jeong. He was the manager of projects for Feros, and he was trying to erase all evidence of what ExoGeni was going on the planet. I think your krogan stepped on him while your friend the Spectre was busy killing all the mercs."

"What was he trying to erase?"

Juliana hesitated. "I'm not entirely sure."

The younger one - Lizbeth - struggled upright. "It's my fault."

"Shush, Lizbeth. Nothing is your fault. You couldn't have known."

Miranda tilted her head slightly. "I need to know what's going on. Nothing is right on this planet - and I need to find out what happened to the soldiers who were sent to investigate before us. I don't want to rush you, but we have a job to do, and I need to get it done."

Lizbeth winced, touching her head. "It's...a project ExoGeni was working on. They don't want the galaxy to know about it, because it was unethical. It's called the Thorian."

"Thorian?"

"Yes. It's...unlike anything we've ever met before. It's a sentient plant lifeform."

"A plant?"

"Yes. It's growing under Zhu's Hope. It...has limited mind control powers."

"Mind control? How is that possible?"

"We're not sure. That's why we were studying it. We think it secretes spores that are able to affect a person - condition them to do what the thorian wants. That's why ExoGeni set up Zhu's Hope there."

"The colonists are being used as test subjects. Clever. Unethical, but clever."

"Yes. When the geth attacked, Ethan knew that unwanted attention would come to Zhu's Hope. They could find out what ExoGeni was doing. And he knew I was trying to sabotage the project. So he - he panicked. Tied us up and tried to destroy all evidence of the thorian. He got most of it."

"I see. What do you think we should do?"

"I'm not sure. Before the geth attacked...a smaller geth shuttle landed at Zhu's Hope. Reports were of a turian and an asari on board, who descended into the colony's depths. Right after they left, the main geth force attacked."

"Saren."

"What's Saren?"

"He's a war criminal. Have you seen any trace of any salarian or Alliance teams in the region?"

"I...no. We never received any word of Alliance or salarian teams."

"Okay. We're going after the thorian."

She looked alarmed. "You're what?"

"What's wrong?"

"The thorian is incredibly dangerous. Not to mention that it has the colonists under its control. If it thinks you're hostile it'll try to kill you, by any means possible."

Miranda shrugged. "If the colonists are being controlled by it, we'll just have to kill them."

"You're an Alliance soldier! You're supposed to be helping us!"

"Marine. And if they try to kill us, we'll have to kill them. Do you see another way of getting to the thorian?"

"Well. No...wait. There's...if the thorian controls them using spores...that should theoretically weaken the body's immune system...fighting foreign infection...so I'd need a chemical that targets...like...wait! Come with me!"

She stood up and ran out of the room. Surprised, Miranda looked after her for a moment, then jogged after her, easily keeping pace with the scientist. They came to a small storage closet, where she pulled out several buckets of a pesticide.

"This chemical. Expose the colonists to it. It should negatively affect the spores and overload their bodies, jumpstart their immune systems from where the spores have weakened it to so that they can still survive in the colonists' bodies. They'll be rendered unconscious or at least insensible, and if you destroy the thorian to prevent re-exposure, it should allow the colonists to regain their minds."

Miranda frowned. "If this doesn't work, we'll have to kill them. You know that, right?"

She hesitated, then nodded. "I'm confident it'll work."

"Alright. I'll leave a team of Marines with you to make sure you're safe. We'll go on ahead with a squad."

"Okay. Good luck. I hope you don't have to hurt any colonists."

Miranda walked back out, signaling the Marines around her with one gloved hand. Ashley, Wrex, Tali, and Garrus walked over.

"How are the arms, Sergeant Williams?"

"Fine, ma'am. We heading out?"

"Yeah." Miranda quickly updated the squad on the situation, explaining the thorian and passing out the aerosol pesticide that the young doctor had given her. They looked at it dubiously.

"It sounds a little far-fetched," Garrus said finally. "I have a feeling this will end in a bloodbath."

Miranda nodded. "I agree. But if it can help forestall casualties, I guess we'll bloody well have to try it."

"For once, I agree with the Major," Ashley said. "Our job's to protect Alliance citizens."

Wrex shrugged. "So, what, we're supposed to throw this at them and make them smell it?"

"I could probably modify some proximity mines to release the pesticide gas. I'd need to remove the explosives, make sure the mine didn't fragment, but I'd need to bore holes in the mines and insert a new core," Tali said. "Mines would be useless for anything else, though. And I'll need some time to do it."

"Do it, Tali," Miranda said. "But don't drag your ass on it. We need to get to the thorian as fast as we can. Saren and an asari - probably Dr. T'Soni's mother - talked to it. We need to know why."

"Yes, yes. I'll start on it right away." Tali headed for the M-35 Mako, although Miranda heard her mutter "Bitch" under her breath. Miranda ignored it.

"Williams, no bullshit. How are your arms feeling?"

"Fine, Major. I was fit for combat a while ago."

"You only broke your arms a couple weeks ago."

"I'll be fine. Ma'am."

Miranda shrugged. Garrus looked at her curiously, but didn't say anything.

"I'll update the Normandy with a sitrep. Williams, make sure Tali gets those mines upgraded soon. Garrus, give them a hand if they need it."

"And me?"

"Do whatever you want, Wrex. Just try not to kill anything right now."

The krogan spat on the ground. "Hmph."

It was almost an hour before the mines were ready. Tali, Garrus, and Ashley had rigged 40 of them - they had a theoretical dispersal range of ten meters, so in theory every mine - detonated by proximity - would coat 314 square meters with the gas. While it only smelled acrid to the team members - and with their helmets on, was completely filtered out - they hoped it would have the effects Lizbeth had promised. Still, Miranda had long ago learned not to trust in hope. The Mako bounced along rapidly, filled with a section of 21 Marines, as well as Garrus, Ashley, Tali, and Miranda. Wrex was too big to fit comfortably in the interior, so he was clinging to the exterior of the Mako. When they reached the end of the skyway, the driver reported that the entrance was blocked off with a barricade.

"Everyone out!"

Miranda dismounted with the rest of the squad, looking around, her M4 drawn, immediately getting soaked by the incessant drizzle. One of the Marines with them - her HUD identified him as SSgt Ryan Aldean - brushed past her, his Avenger carbine drawn as he took a knee, marking locations for his Marines to take up security positions on their linked HUD. Miranda walked around the Mako to see the barricade. It had gaps in it that only individual infantrymen could squeeze through - an ideal chokepoint for snipers. Miranda walked up, leaning out into one of the gaps. A moment later, she heard a snap and pulled back behind cover, as a chunk of ferroconcrete beside her was knocked into the air, the echo of the gunshot still hanging in the air.

"Sounds like a .303," Garrus observed as he strode casually up to the other side of the gap. "Not a very good shot, though."

Miranda nodded. "Think he's got thermal?"

"They're colonists, not soldiers. Probably not. Pop smoke?"

"Yeah."

Both warriors pulled out smoke grenades, pulling the pins and lobbing them into the gap. The grenades quickly filled the area with thick, roiling clouds of white smoke, hissing as the rain cut small paths through them. Miranda swung out into the gap, her M4 raised, and went right, as Garrus followed, going left with his Krysae at the high ready. Ashley had followed her with her Revenant at the ready, and Tali had gone with Garrus, Wrex going down the center. They paused behind a pile of rubble, fishing out and tossing more smoke grenades as they advanced quickly through the kill zone, concealed by the smoke. Miranda raised her M4, peering through her magnetic scope - tech that detected magnetic metals like iron depending on the strength of the magnetism and showed non-magnetic materials in grey - finding the sniper in question, only fifty meters ahead of them, taking cover behind an iron barrier ten meters above them. She pulled out one of Tali's mines. _Hope this works_, she thought, lobbing the mine up and over with as much force as her genetically modified arms allowed and immediately peering through her scope to track the trajectory. The mine sailed out and up with immense speed, clanging off the door behind the sniper and bouncing backwards into his leg. A moment later, the sniper stiffened, dropping his sniper rifle, and fell, convulsing.

"Clear! Move up to the door!"

The five rushed up quickly, stepping over the colonist, who had stopped convulsing and was lying on his side. He was still breathing - so at least the mines were working. The Marines followed them quickly, setting up security behind them. Miranda opened the door, quickly pulling her hand out of the way as she tapped the open button. It was a wise precaution - the instant the door opened, bullets began sparking off the doorframe and flying past. Miranda grimaced as Garrus handed her an armed mine, which she flung into the room. The squad swung in, ignoring the flailing colonists and advancing through the colony rapidly. Their tactics remained the same until they reached the container under which the entrance to the thorian was buried. Her rifle resting on her shoulder, Miranda started tapping on the controls, trying to lift the container out of the way. A cry of a alarm from a Marine caught her attention, and she spun, readying her rifle. An old Asian man appeared, staggering forward, with a Canifex hand cannon in his hand. As all the Marines sighted at him, Garrus reached for a mine.

"It...wants me...to stop...you," the old man managed to gasp out. There were tears streaming down his face. He looked like he was in complete agony. "I...failed...my people. They trusted me...and I couldn't...protect them. But you...can free...them and...it wants me to stop you." The pistol came up shakily, his hand trembling wildly.

"I'm...not its...slave. Help...my colony. It wants...me...to stop you...but I won't!" The old man's hoarse voice rose. "I won't! I won't!"

Suddenly, he jerked his hand up, placing the Carnifex's barrel at his temple. Before anyone could say a word - before the thorian could reassert control - the man pulled the trigger. Miranda looked away with a wince, as the pistol cracked, followed by a loud thud as his body hit the ground.

Garrus, who had been about to throw the mine was silent as he tucked the mine back into his pouch. When he spoke, it was with a curious tone in his voice. "Sometimes I forget how much alike humans and turians are. I hope that man finds peace."

Miranda nodded. Ignoring the murmurs of the Marines, she turned back to the controls and lifted the container.

"Alright, let's-"

They all stopped. There was a rustling sound coming from the now-exposed tunnel. Miranda uneasily raised her Valkyrie. After a moment of hesitation, she flicked on a flashlight, shining it down the dark tunnel.

A hundred...things stared back at her. They were green - they looked moldy - but they were in the shape of a human skeleton, sunken eye sockets and all. Ashley let out a strangled cry.

"Husks!"

She immediately started firing panickedly, sprayed automatic fire into the horde from her Revenant light machine gun. The rounds punched through the humanoid forms without effect. Suddenly, the rustling sound became much louder as arms rose and the mossy figures started charging.

"Open fire!"

The squad fell back, opening fire as the figures charged, ignoring their wounds. A Marine - Lance Corporal Takyei Kitsoto - went down, six of the green monsters clinging to his armor. Miranda fired a round through one of the monsters' heads, sending - wood? - chips flying into the air as the creature collapsed. Tali fumbled with her belt, tossing a mine through the air at the things. The gas release didn't have a single damned effect on them. Miranda flipped her selective lever to burst and started firing three round bursts into the horde of creepers, slamming thermal clip after thermal clip into her weapon as she continued firing, striking out with the stock of the rifle or her omniblade when the green humanoids got too close. Another Marine went down to her right, the heartbeat display beside his name - Corporal Lance Brown - flatlining as a creeper smashed him in the face repeatedly, breaking through his helmet. Wrex was busy grappling with five of them at once, his shotgun forgotten on the ground beside him as he lashed out with his hands. Tali had fallen back and was standing on a pile of rubble, using her shotgun to blast back the creepers trying to climb up beside her. A few of the Marines had formed a tight 360, firing at the creepers with their backs to one another. Garrus and Ashley were in the Marine's 360 - Garrus was firing, while Ashley seemed to be having trouble reloading her weapon. Miranda snapped a creeper's arm off with a twist of her arm and a kick to its back, then she kicked her M4 into her hands and sprinted for the Marines, mud splashing all over her boots. The Marines quickly made a small hole for her to take a position in. She shoved her rifle into Ashley's hands and took the machine gun from her, clearing the weapon jam quickly - they needed its firepower. She snatched a speedloader of four thermal clips from Ashley's hip, which she slid into the machine gun. She quickly looked around, noticing that a lot of the Marines were running low on thermal clips already, and pulled a small pylon off of her back. The pylon was a type of mobile resupply that had been developed by the Alliance to provide thermal clips and grenades for soldiers who were being overrun in positions that supply drops couldn't be made in. She set it on the ground, activating it with a few swift taps on her omni-tool - immediately, it began producing thermal clips, including several speed-loaders for the Revenant. She turned back to the perimeter, pulled back on the charging handle on the Revenant, and raised the weapon, opening fire with the lethal automatic weapon. From her crouched stance, she swept the crowd mercilessly, aiming for chests. They'd killed dozens of the things so far, and their numbers were dwindling rapidly, although at least four Marines had flatlined since the onslaught began. Wrex was freely bleeding from dozens of wounds on his body, although the krogan seemed to be possessed, smashing through the creepers with single blows from his fists. Tali was still holding her position on the top of the column. Garrus was still in the formation, firing rapid and accurate bursts at the oncoming monsters. Ashley was clutching the Valkyrie, but she didn't seem to be firing. As Miranda reached for another speed-loader, she slapped the sergeant, trying to get her to focus.

"Get it together, Williams! Shoot at them!"

Distantly, Miranda recognized that it was the first time Ashley had been in combat since Eden Prime, but they had no time to let the woman ease back into warfare - they needed her functional and firing. She roughly shook the sergeant's shoulder.

"Aim and shoot!"

Ashley turned and looked at her as though through a haze. Miranda swore and shook her again, her words seeming to reach the sergeant from a long distance away. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Ashley blinked, shaking her head violently, and turned, raising the rifle and taking a knee. She started firing, tentatively at first, but with more accuracy and confidence with each shot. Miranda turned and rejoined the perimeter, laying down more fire from Ashley's Revenant. The number of creepers rapidly dwindled, and though they came close to breaking through the Marines' formation, no more Marines were killed; Wrex, meanwhile, had simply gone berserk and was untouchable by them, while Tali had defended her position well enough that none of the creepers had even gotten close. The area finally clear, Miranda looked down at the Revenant, which she'd fired until it was useless; the barrel had melted shut from the immense heat from all the lead she'd poured into the enemy. Ashley would have spare barrels in her kit, but in the meantime, she handed the weapon back to Ashley, who looked disturbed.

"Williams, you alright?"

The sergeant shrugged as she returned the . "Fine, ma'am. We going down there?"

"I am. I want you to stay back with the security team."

"I can fight."

"No arguments, Sergeant. Stay here." It wasn't that she questioned the sergeant's abilities. Well, maybe it was a little. She couldn't afford to have her freeze up again like she had just now. It'd be better if she stayed back and out of the way. Ashley looked miserable, but Miranda turned and walked off before she had a chance to say anything.

"Garrus! Tali! Wrex!"

The three turned away from what they'd been doing - Garrus had been collecting dog tags from the fallen Marines, Tali had been tinkering with one of the Marines' weapons, and Wrex had been peering down the staircase, his mouth pulled back in a scowl - and walked over to her.

"We're going down there. Staff Sergeant Aldean!"

The section leader limped over, frowning.

"Keep one squad of Marines here for security. You're in command, Sergeant Williams is staying with you. I need another squad of shooters to go down there with us."

"Aye aye, ma'am. Rodriguez!"

A Hispanic female sergeant looked up from where she'd been collecting casualty reports. "Staff Sergeant?"

"Get your men up and running. You're headed down with the Major."

"Roger, staff sergeant." She stood, heading over to some of the Marines who were pulling security. As they hopped up and headed over, Miranda flicked her visor, enabling its night vision capabilities, and started heading down, followed closely by Wrex on her left and Garrus on her right. Miranda breathed a silent sigh of relief as they stepped out of the rain, her boots still squelching from the accumulated mud. They advanced down the stairs as quietly as they could, though, given Wrex's bulk and the mud, they were unable to be extremely stealthy. Nothing seemed remarkable, however, as they continued to advance, their senses fully alert. Eventually, they stepped out into a circular chamber - there were at least two dozen circular walkways around it on different floors, the center completely open. In it, there was a massive structure - it looked organic, like a fungus or something - that was suspended in the center, gigantic vines and roots attached to the walls. Miranda lowered her M4, holding it in one hand, as she looked up at the massive plant, flicking her night vision off.

"Keelah..." Tali gasped as she looked at the chamber, which was flooded with natural light. Drizzle was falling down into the center of the chamber, but it seemed to have been designed to collect and shower the rain down vertically; none seemed to be splashing the walkways. One ponderous vine was draped over the walkway they were on. One of the Marines - a Lance Corporal, Mark Solsheim - looked around uneasily.

"Ma'am, we should get out of the open..." he said quietly. Miranda, however, was focused on the vine, which was pulsating more and more rapidly. She raised her rifle, in time to see the vine suddenly open up, expelling something green. She was about to open fire when a naked asari straightened, standing with perfect posture. She opened her eyes - a mesmerizing, vibrant, shade of green - and observed them in silence. In her appearance, she seemed exactly like any other asari, except that her body was a dark, verdant green, instead of the normal shades of blue or purple that most asari were. Miranda found herself feeling extremely wary of the asari, despite the fact that she wore no clothing and had no weapon. Finally, she spoke.

"You are standing in the presence of a god. The Old Growth commands you to be in awe."

Her voice was...strange. On the one hand, it had the seductive tones of any other asari, and the normal melodic qualities to it. However, her speech patterns seemed strange - she broke down her sentences into odd cadences, and spoke haltingly.

Miranda lowered her weapon, raising her left hand to show she meant no harm.

"There was another here. A turian. He spoke to you. I need to know what he wanted."

The gigantic structure in the middle seemed to shake a little, whether in agitation or fear or some other emotion, Miranda couldn't tell.

"Every step you take in our home is a transgression. You seek only to destroy, to burn. We already agreed to a deal with those who scurry. They promised us meat, they promised us thralls, but instead they came with steel bodies and steel guns, to burn, to raze, to sever. The Old Growth will not feel the sting of fire again. You are meat, good only to dig or decompose. The Old Growth commands that you die!"

The green asari suddenly raised her hands, purple energy swirling around them. Miranda immediately dove to the side, as the rest of the squad leapt for cover. Still, the asari's biotic field managed to strike her in the legs, sending her spinning backwards until she hit the ground, rolling several more meters with a cry of pain. She heard gunfire as she sat up, trying to regain her bearings, and drew her pistol - her rifle lay some fifteen meters ahead of her. The asari was throwing biotics left and right, shrugging off the bullets flying at her - she had erected a biotic barrier around her. Miranda raised the Legion and fired six rounds rapidly, all of them impacting between the asari's breasts and simply flowing off the barrier. Not all the gunfire was coming from the Marines, though - she saw a Marine to her left cry out and fall, clutching her left leg, which was spurting blood. She pulled herself into a kneeling stance, seeing a flicker of movement to her left, and immediately took aim and fired with one hand while she manipulated her biotics with the other. She was rewarded with her hasty shots when a sharp cry of pain came from the shadows she'd been firing at - she saw a spray of fluid, but ignored it, returning her focus to the asari, who had hurled a singularity behind Wrex, trapping him, and was currently lifting Tali off her feet in the air, preparing to launch a warp field at her. Miranda spun her arm and hurled a biotic field herself at the asari, catching her by surprise. She started to turn towards Miranda when the warp field struck her in the center of her abdomen, knocking her several steps backwards and shredding her barrier. Before she could recover, a second biotic field hurled the asari backwards with immense speed; she flew off the side of the barrier, smashed into the massive organic structure with a loud crack, then tumbled down the center of the massive chamber - a fall of at least a hundred feet.

The gunfire suddenly halted, leaving Miranda looking around, panting, her pistol still raised. She rushed over to her rifle, holstering the pistol and snatching up the Valkyrie. The singularity trapping Wrex had dissipated, while Tali had been freed when the warp field and struck the asari. She looked around to see Garrus nursing a wound to his upper right thigh.

"Garrus!"

"I'm fine. Just a minor flesh wound."

"What happened?"

"I think...we found the salarians," he said, gesturing to his right. Wrex walked over, grabbing a body and dragging it into the light. A salarian lay there, his right cranial horn blown apart, green blood splattered across his body. He wore dark armor and carried high-tech salarian weapons.

"I guess they must have been enthralled by the thorian. Makes me wonder if the N7s met the same fate."

"It seems likely," Tali observed. "Which means we'll have a major threat on our hands down here."

"Sergeant Rodriguez!"

The tall Hispanic woman jogged over. "Ma'am?"

"How many casualties?"

"We're down three men. One got hit by a warp field. He's still alive, but we can't save him. It shredded his lungs and abdomen. Another got killed by...I guess the salarians. The third was killed outside by those green things. Ma'am."

"Roger that. We need to watch our rear carefully. There's most likely an N7 team in addition to the salarian commandos down here."

The woman hesitated, before nodding. "Aye aye, ma'am."

"Something wrong, sergeant?"

"No m'am. Only...there's six of us, ma'am. Ten including your team. You're saying there's 12 of the most elite warriors in the Systems Alliance, and the best spies in the Salarian Union, stalking us right now. I just don't see how...well, never mind, ma'am."

"Suck it up, Marine."

"...yes, ma'am."

Shaking her head, Miranda turned to the others. "I'll take point. Garrus, you and Wrex watch our rear. Tali, stay with me."

"Alright."

"Works for me. Hey, Miranda, we're running low on gas mines."

"Try and use them where we can. I don't want to have to kill any more Alliance than we have to."

"And salarians."

"Yeah, of course. Let's move out. We need to find a way to kill that plant."

Garrus looked at her for a long moment, before acknowledging the command. He and the krogan headed back behind the ragged section of Marines. The small group headed out in a long file, moving through a hallway that led downwards to the next level, their weapons at the ready as they slowly stepped through the dark, damp Prothean ruins. Through the cool green hues of her night vision, she picked out details that shouldn't have been possible. Moss and mold were evident all over the walls, even though there was no light in the tunnel. Perhaps they were chemosynthetic, she thought, but even so - that'd be extremely strange, given that they had leaves. A flicker of movement caught her eye at the end of the tunnel, and she threw her left fist up as she dropped to a knee, raising her rifle with the other hand. Behind her, all movement ceased as the Marines followed her example. For a long moment, all she could hear was her own breathing. Tali edged forward to her position.

"What's going on?"

Miranda hushed her with a sharp exhalation, sighting cautiously at the end of the tunnel as she listened intently.

"Stay here," she breathed quietly. Tali nodded, adjusting her grip on her shotgun nervously as Miranda crept forward, setting her feet down and testing for inconsistencies before moving forward silently on her combat boots. At the end of the tunnel, she took a calming breath, then gently slid a fiber-optic cable out of her suit, activating a small camera screen in her visor that allowed her to see what the fiber-optic was seeing. She snaked it around the corner, but only caught a glimpse of black armor before the cable went dead. Miranda immediately jumped backwards, raising her rifle, as an N7 Paladin barreled around the corner, a massive omni-shield on his arm and a shotgun in his other hand. He smashed the shield into Miranda, tossing her backwards, and blasted at her with the shotgun twice, destroying her shields immediately. She rolled, dropping her M4 and allowing her biotic power to suffuse her form, creating a barrier around her immediately. As she rose up, she saw a Fury step up behind the Paladin, relying on his shield to shield her. Miranda drew her pistol and fired off several rounds, all of which pinged off the translucent golden shield. A moment later, a warp field slammed into her, knocking her onto her back, although her biotic barrier was able to stand strong. Miranda scooted backwards from her sitting position away from the advancing Paladin when she heard a familiar clunk. She saw a mine sail through the air, landing between the two N7s, neither of whom were wearing helmets. It detonated a moment later, releasing a massive cloud of the pesticide. The commandos stiffened, choking. The Paladin collapsed after a few moments, writhing, while the Fury managed to stumble backwards out of the cloud, then seemed to flicker as she vanished, using her biotics to teleport away. Tali rushed forward, leaning around the corner and opening fire with her shotgun, then hurriedly diving to the ground as bullets slammed into the wall behind her, ricocheting around the hallway. Then the gunfire suddenly ceased. After a few moments, Tali raised her head cautiously, checking around. Miranda dusted herself off and walked over to her rifle, picking it up and looking at it before tossing it to the side. Two bullets had hit the body of the rifle; the weapon had two clean, smoking holes in it, rendering it useless. She pulled out the Hurricane SMG she kept with her, glancing at Tali.

"You alright?"

"No suit punctures. Yet."

She nodded and stepped up to the corner, leaning out for a moment to see an empty corridor. She turned back to see the Marines zip-tying the unconscious Paladin. They hadn't taken any casualties, thanks to pure luck.

"Alright, let's mo-"

A small screen opened up on her visor, revealing Commander Shepard's battered face.

"Shepard, what do you need?"

"I need a sitrep, Miranda. What's going on down there? Ash says that you guys have taken several casualties."

"Colonists have gone hostile. There's some kind of plant that's able to control people's minds down here. It's also managed to take control of the N7 team and the salarians. We're trying to destroy it and free them."

"What about Saren? He's the primary objective."

"We think he talked to the plant before the geth attacked. We'll need to try and figure out what he was doing."

"Understood. Keep me posted, Miranda. Shepard out."

"Alright, let's mo-"

"Miranda, take a look at this." Garrus was standing by a large mess of vines that were attached to the wall. They looked almost like...nerves?

Miranda walked over, examining the structure, prodding it with her SMG. It quivered - there was a lot of tension on it - but otherwise felt solid. "What do you think, Tali?"

"It looks strong enough to be part of a support structure for the thorian. Perhaps this is helping suspend it in the air. If it is...destroying it might cause the plant to fall."

"What are we waiting for, then?" Wrex brought the butt of his shotgun smoothly to his shoulder and fired three times into the bundle of vines, the incendiary ammunition shredding through the majority of the vines easily. After a moment, the few remaining strands snapped, the tension too great for them alone to hold, and the vines disappeared back towards the thorian incredibly fast. The structure shook. From somewhere, they heard an agonized shriek.

"Well, that certainly did something. Keep your eyes out for any more of those. Maybe we can force the thorian to give up. Now, let's move."

The small group advanced further down the hallway, finding themselves in the main atrium again. The thorian looked unbalanced, still suspended in the air, but one end hanging slightly lower. Out of the corner of her eye, Miranda saw a flicker of movement. She spun, dropping to one knee, to see the green asari she'd killed earlier advancing, malice in her emerald eyes.

"Open fire!"

Sergeant Rodriguez's Marines started firing at the asari, who raised her hand and slammed it down towards the ground. Miranda staggered - it felt like an earthquake - as she saw purple explosions on the ground in a line emanating from the asari. Two of the Marines caught in one of the explosions flew backwards in pieces - blood exploded around the ground, body parts flying apart, a leg landing on Miranda and knocking her over. The asari swung her arm around in a wide sweeping movement, sending the remaining Marines, along with Garrus and Tali, flying backwards, landing roughly on the ground. Wrex stumbled backwards, but recovered with a roar. He charged, ignoring his shotgun in his fury, slamming into the asari with massive momentum. Smoke started rising around Miranda, obscuring her view of what was going on as she regained her feet, coughing. Someone had thrown smoke grenades, she wasn't sure who. She dropped flat again instinctively, hearing bullets snap past her, pinging off the concrete floor. She raised the Hurricane, but couldn't see anything to fire at. She shook her head, typing rapidly on her omnitool as she switched her visor to thermal. After a moment, her vision went dark, then reset to shades of blue, orange, and red. Although she couldn't see well through the smoke - it was designed to mess with thermal as well, as the smoke reacted with the atmosphere upon being released to release heat in a slow burn. It wasn't enough to injure or ignite anything in it, but it caused the smoke to emit heat at the same level as around human body temperature, which made it a lot harder to see through with thermals. Still, she was able to make out a few targets - N7s and especially salarians, who were much hotter than humans due to their massively accelerated metabolisms - and opened fire with the Hurricane. She saw one human figure stumble backwards - she wasn't sure how many times she hit it - but after a few moments, it fell to the ground and stopped moving. She could see Wrex - the krogan, like the salarians, was much hotter than human body temperature, pulling at a humanoid who he was grasping in his hands. Pulling in half. Miranda winced as she heard an agonized scream, along with Wrex roaring. As the smoke started to dissipate, the volume of fire slackened, before finally coming to a halt. The whole firefight had lasted less than five minutes, but blood was splattered around the ground. Bullet holes pockmarked the concrete and walls, along with scorch marks. Wrex emerged, covered in blood. Four Marines were dead, including Sergeant Rodriguez - she'd taken a headshot. The remaining two Marines were pulling security, obviously rattled. Garrus was lying in a small pool of blue blood, grasping at his side in obvious pain, while Tali waved her omnitool about him as she applied medi-gel and. _Everything's going to shit,_ Miranda thought with irritation. Wrex tapped her on the shoulder - a heavy, bruising blow - and gestured upwards.

"Another one of those anchors. Want me to take it out?"

"Go ahead. Tali, how's Garrus?"

"Bad. He needs to be evacuated."

"Alright. You two Marines!"

A female private and a male corporal slowly made their way over to her.

"Yes, ma'am?" They sounded very hostile. Miranda couldn't blame them. Another seven Marines were dead. Another seven deaths she was responsible for. Regardless, she knew they had to keep moving.

"Get Garrus back up to the surface. Tali, Wrex, and I will keep moving."

"Yes, ma'am."

They moved away, ignoring her almost immediately, helping the turian up and slowly starting back the way the team had come. Tali looked at Miranda, her face unreadable behind the envirosuit's mask.

"What is it?"

"Nothing...ma'am." The sarcasm in the quarian's voice was obvious. Miranda sighed, but turned towards the hallway that would take them deeper into the complex. A snap from above her - followed by a howl of agony - informed her Wrex had been successful in destroying the anchor. She looked around.

"How many'd we kill?"

"The asari. Three humans," Wrex growled. "A couple salarians."

"Marvelous. Okay, let's go, but keep your head on a swivel."

"If we knock out one or two more of those nodes, I think the weight of the thorian will be too much for the rest of the anchors to handle," Tali said.

"And you're basing that on?"

"The fact that I'm an engineer."

"Point taken. Let's go. Wrex, you're point."

"Yeah."

The surly krogan moved to the front, his shotgun leveled forward as he advanced through the network of tunnels.

"How many wounds do you guys have?"

Tali shrugged. "Minor suit breach. I'm running a slight fever, but I should be fine...as long as I don't get shot any more."

"Wrex?"

"It's nothing I can't handle."

As they reached the end of the tunnel, they saw a third anchor - larger than the others. Oddly, there was nothing guarding it. The naked female asari was there again.

"Hmph. That little asari is harder to kill than she looks. I pulled her head off earlier."

Miranda winced slightly. "Yeah, we noticed."

"Guess I'll have to do it right this time," Wrex muttered. He cracked his knuckles and holstered his shotgun, advancing on the asari with a determined stride.

"Halt. The Old Growth would speak with you."

"Wait, Wrex." Miranda stepped forward, locking eyes with the asari.

"What do you have to say?"

"The Old Growth wishes to know what you seek."

"A turian came and talked to you earlier. I must know what he wanted."

"He who serves the machines demanded the knowledge of those the machines destroyed. The Old Growth cares little for the affairs of those who scurry. But he who serves the machines offered us blood, and bodies, and meat to serve us. But he betrayed the Old Growth and attempted to destroy us."

"What do you mean, he who serves the machines? Saren leads the geth."

"No. Not the bodies of steel. The machines, who came before, and before that. They burned this world. They set abominations upon its surface. They destroyed our meat and our blood and our servants but they did not destroy us. They have never tried to harm the Old Growth. If they did, they would not survive."

"Do you mean the Reapers?"

"That is as those who the Machines destroyed called them."

"What knowledge was the turian asking for?"

The asari hesitated. "It is...a cipher. The secrets of those who came before. The knowledge of their lives and their culture. How those who the machines destroyed thought."

"We need that cipher."

The thorian's mass seemed to pulse agitatedly above them.

"It is impossible. He who serves the machines used a sky daughter to gain his knowledge, then gave her to us. We will not give the sky daughter up."

"If you don't give us the cipher, we will have to kill you."

"Those who scurry cannot harm the Old Growth. We have told you what you wish to know. Leave us or we will grind your bones into rot."

"Wrex."

"Yeah?"

"Destroy the anchor." As she spoke, Miranda raised her pistol and shot the asari in the head in one, smooth motion. She hadn't erected barriers yet, and the bullet passed through her skull without any resistance, sending the asari toppling backwards. Wrex drew his shotgun and advanced on the anchor, blasting chips of wood and vines into the air as he opened fire.

Tali turned nervously. "Are you sure that was a good idea, Miranda? If we kill the thorian, we may not be able to get what we need."

"It won't negotiate and it won't give us what we need willingly."

"Th-"

The ground started to rumble. Dozens of the husk-like creepers began emerging from tunnels or climbing up the balconies. Above the trio, the remaining eight N7s emerged on opposite, high balconies, along with the remaining five STG infiltrators, their weapons drawn.

"Oh."

Tali and Miranda exchanged looks as they backed up towards Wrex, who was hacking away at the vines with his omni-blade.

"Wrex?"

"Yea-oh."

He straightened up, putting his omni-blade away, and pulled out his shotgun, reloading it with a new thermal clip.

"So...maybe I was a little hasty," Miranda said.

Tali looked around. "Maybe."

"So, um...I guess our best bet is to...destroy that anchor as fast as possible?"

"Yeah. Probably."

"Go, Wrex!"

After a brief moment, Wrex turned back to the anchor and started blasting away, roaring. The creepers in the same instant began charging. Miranda threw both hands up and generated a biotic barrier, shielding Wrex, Tali, and herself from bullets from above, although the strain of maintaining the barrier left her unable to fight back against the creepers. Tali, taking a knee, blasted as fast as she could with her shotgun, but was quickly overwhelmed, resorting to creating an omni-shield the length of her body and desperately holding onto it as the creepers tried to bite through it and her.

"Hurry it up, Wrex!" Miranda was on her knees as repeated warp fields and bullets pinging off her biotic barrier drained it faster than she could replenish it, her face red with effort. Tali was pushing back against the creepers, trying to keep them back from Wrex and Miranda, but was giving ground steadily, unable to match their physical strength. Miranda turned to see Wrex roaring as he pulled a grenade from his belt and shoved it into the hole he had created in the anchor, then threw himself to the side, covering his head and curling into a ball.

"Grenade!" Miranda shrieked as she dove flat, the biotic barrier almost immediately disintegrating. Bullets drummed into the concrete beside her and hitting her shields, which were draining rapidly. She felt a heavy impact in her side, another in her shoulder, and another in her thigh, then the grenade detonated. The ground shook as the anchor snapped, although all the three could hear was a ringing sound from the concussive blast. All movement seemed to cease as the thorian swung down, one end completely disjointed from its anchors. The weight proved too much for the other anchors to bear, as one after another snapped. With a final shriek, the thorian fell down from where it had been suspended a hundred feet in the air, striking the ground with a thunderous impact. The collapse shook the entire structure, dust rising and obscuring all vision.

Tali stumbled upright, looking around. Her suit read two breaches - one from earlier, when a bullet had punched through her calf, and another now, in her arm, and antibiotics were flooding her system. She coughed, looking around. The dust still hung heavy in the air, and all she could make out was the grey smoke. It seemed that the thorian's fall had killed its plant-like servants, as they all lay collapsed around the area. She couldn't make out the salarians or the humans above them, but the gunfire had ceased. She stumbled through the heavy smog, thankful for the filter in her exosuit. Where was...she tripped heavily as her hoof struck Miranda, who was lying flat on her back, stirring feebly. _Keelah_, she thought, staggering upright. The human had three bloody wounds, in her shoulder, her thigh, and her leg. It looked like the thigh wound had severed an artery - Tali attempted to recall what little she'd studied on human anatomy. _Femoral artery?_ The shoulder wound looked serious, too. Tali immediately dropped to her knee, starting using her omni-tool to apply medigel and staunch the bleeding before the pool of blood got any larger. For several minutes, she worked feverishly, until she'd managed to stop the human's bleeding. Shaking her head, she looked around. _Where was Wrex? I think he was behind us..._

Wrex, too, was lying in a pool of blood. A hot piece of shrapnel had embedded itself in his throat. Tali swallowed apprehensively. There was a lot more blood than there had been around Miranda. _What do I do...Krogan are tough, he should have a redundant nervous system and lungs. So he should still be alive...but the bleeding needs to be stopped. And...the shrapnel removed? No. I don't have equipment for that. So...just stop the bleeding. Okay. Medigel._

She cocked her head as a transmission came through. It was from Captain Shepard! _Why didn't I call her immediately! You stupid bosh'tet,_ Tali chided herself.

"Shadow 1-2, come in. Shadow 1-2, come in."

"Storm 6, this Shadow 1..." Tali hesitated. She couldn't remember her callsign. "This is Tali'Zorah."

"Tali! What the hell is going on down there? Ashley has no idea what's going on except that Garrus is wounded and all the Marines who went down with you are dead, and I can't raise anyone. We just got readings of seismic activity nearby you."

"We need help. Get the Normandy down here, Miranda and Wrex are both badly hurt."

"On our way. What the fuck happened?"

"We killed the thorian, but we were overrun doing so."

"Any intel on Saren?"

"Not that I-"

Tali saw movement in the smog. She reached for her shotgun, but found it missing. She looked around quickly and spotted it several meters away - too far away. She pulled out her pistol, raising it.

"Captain. We need help."

"We're on our way, Tali. Two minutes. Ashley's QRF is en route as well."

"Acknowledged." Shutting off the transmission, she shouted into the dust. "Who are you? Show yourself or I'll shoot!"

After a few moments, an asari stumbled out of the dust. She looked the same as the green asari they'd been fighting, but she was the normal azure of most asari, and was wearing black commando leathers, though she appeared unarmed. She raised her hands.

"I...I...who are you?"

Tali kept the weapon up. "What's your name?"

"I'm...Shiala. I..." she winced, her hands going to her head. "I'm...not...what happened? Where's...Saren?"

"What do you know about Saren?"

"He...He came here with me and the Matriarch. He asked me to do something for him...I bonded with the...the thorian. Then...I don't remember what happened next."

"You work for Saren?" Tali moved her finger from the trigger guard onto the trigger.

"No-no! I'm one of Matriarch Benezia's bodyguards. I...do whatever she asks of me. We went onto Sovereign to...to stop Saren."

"Really."

"Yes! I...Benezia wanted to make Saren see reason. But...the ship...Sovereign, his flagship...it...does something to your head. Eventually...she started obeying Saren. We did too."

"Sounds convenient." Tali narrowed her eyes, glaring at the asari. "Why wouldn't Benezia tell everyone else that Saren was going insane? Why would you be telling me this if you're so loyal to this mind-controlling ship?"

"I...she and Saren were old friends. He's a Spectre."

"Was a Spectre. Now he's an outlaw."

"He...what has happened?"

"Eden Prime sound familiar? The Council has sent a Spectre to arrest or kill Saren and stripped him of Spectre status."

"I...had not heard. But. I think the ship is only so effective on its own. Saren used to speak of a way to alter its effects, but...I...I can still feel its thoughts at the edge. But they're so faint. Whispers."

Tali shook her head. "We'll see what Shepard has to say about this." She tossed a ziptie from a pocket in her envirosuit to the asari.

"Cuff yourself."

The asari obediently drew the tight cuffs around her wrists, binding them together. Tali turned to treat Wrex as they waited for the Normandy to arrive.


	6. Chapter 6: Another Old Friend

"That was a shitshow."

"Yeah."

"How're Miranda and Wrex doing?"

"Dr. Chakwas is still working on them."

"Total casualty reports?"

"We lost two squads of Marines, an eighth of the Normandy's complement. Lawson, the turian, and the krogan are going to be out of commission for a long time. The quarian's running a high fever and is showing some serious...quarian version of bronchitis. She'll be out of commission at least for a week. Alenko, Williams, and the asari are ready for duty, along with three platoons of four squads, and one platoon of two squads. We managed to recover six salarians from the STG. Their minds seem to be their own, but they're still in the brig until we get to the Citadel," Pressly answered. "Eight N7s survived. Same situation. We recovered the tags and bodies of all the Council forces that were killed."

Ferin rubbed her temples, a headache still lingering. Although Dr. Chakwas had managed to use some kind of nano-sized robot to fix her ears partially, she had a fairly severe concussion, and there wasn't much the doc could do about that. Garrus had a large chunk of meat missing from his hip and couldn't walk. Miranda had been critically wounded and lost a lot of blood, same with Wrex. Wrex had been so badly wounded that he'd be out of commission until his primary nervous system was back online, as he didn't have full motor control.

"Alright. At least we got some intel on what Saren was seeking."

"Yes. But we need to figure out what he needed the Cipher for. Does it help you make sense of the beacon?" Liara asked.

"I...no, not really. Shiala said it would take time." The commando, who had been enslaved by the thorian, had been released on Feros, citing a desire to help the colonists who'd been freed from the thorian's control, after the Commander had interrogated her. She had melded her nervous system with Ferin and imprinted the cipher that she had given Saren, but despite her best efforts, the Prothean beacon's message still remained unclear. Liara had melded with Ferin again after the cipher was imprinted in her brain, but was unable to make out much more other than something to do with Ilos, a planet which was lost to history. The mass relay that connected it to the galaxy had been lost after a supernova had blown it out of known space several millennia ago. Liara predicted given time, Ferin would be able to make sense of and understand Prothean memories and culture, maybe even language, but for the time being, her mind was still sorting through the alien knowledge, inorganic to her.

Addressing Pressly, Ferin spoke again. "Is Miranda well enough for a debrief?"

He hesitated. "I don't know. You can check, I guess, ma'am. Probably the only one who's well enough for a proper debrief is Williams, but she wasn't in the thick of the action."

Ferin nodded. "Back to your duties, Pressly."

"Yes ma'am." He saluted, dropping it and walking briskly away when she returned it quickly.

When Ferin found Ashley, she was sitting in the armory, not doing anything.

"You alright, Ash?"

She looked up, surprised, and leapt to her feet.

"Yea-yes, ma'am. I didn't realize you were looking for me."

"At ease, Ash. I just wanted to come by and check on you. Get your account of things from Feros."

Ashley seemed to hesitate. "I...I'm alright, ma'am. And I put it all in my report."

"I don't mean the written report. I want to hear things from you. We took a lot of casualties on the planet - a lot of casualties."

"There was a lot of enemy."

"I understand that, Ash. How're your arms?"

"Doc Chakwas patched them up pretty good. They'll be fine, ma'am."

"So. Tell me what happened."

"I...I don't understand what you want, ma'am."

"Just talk me through everything that happened. No bullshit. No record."

"I...alright, colonel. Everything was going good, really, for the phases I was involved in. We swept through the colony, no casualties, everyone was green. We started to get set to enter the thorian's tunnels under the colony, and..."

She trailed off, her eyes fixed on the opposite wall. Ferin waited.

"We got hit by dozens of things. They looked like...like the husks on Eden Prime. And I...I lost it, ma'am. Completely froze up. Major Lawson ended up taking my weapon because we needed the LMG on line and I wasn't doing my job."

"Why'd you freeze up, Ash?"

"I...I don't know. I saw them and it was like I was there with Prentiss and Nietrom again. I panicked. It was like Eden Prime. I just started spraying fire before the Major could give any orders and it turned into shit. We lost a few Marines and I...when my thermal clips were overheated, I couldn't reload, I was just panicked. I don't know what was going through my head."

"Do you think about Eden Prime often, Ash?"

"I...yeah, actually. Pretty often. I mean, aside from me, there weren't any soldiers who survived Eden Prime. I guess I just..."

She scoffed at herself. A humorless laugh. "I guess this sounds pretty stupid. I just wonder why me? Why not them? There was one woman in my squad, Private Bhatia. Nirali. She had a husband who she loved so much, she couldn't wait to get back to him. She listened to a recording of his voice every night before she went to sleep. Prentiss, he had two daughters on Benning. They're 7 and 10, and now they don't have a father, all they've got is a folded flag. Zhang was only 19, he was barely an adult. He joined up so he could go to Yale afterward, make his parents proud. He didn't even get a chance to live life. Me, though? Why me? I don't have a family that needs me. I have a family that loves me, but my sisters, my mother would've been alright even if I'd died. They'd be...torn up inside, but they'd cope. I don't have kids, a husband, even a boyfriend."

After a pause, tears in her eyes, she turned to Ferin. "Do you believe in God, ma'am?"

Ferin hesitated. She'd never been very religious, like most of humanity at that point. She had found solace in churches in the past, but as a street rat and a gang member growing up, religion hadn't even been on her radar. After she'd enlisted, it was mostly just a way to get out of work details on Sundays, although some of what the priest had said resonated. "Yes. I haven't talked to Him in a very long time, though."

Ashley laughed that same small, humorless laugh. "Yeah. I wasn't...wasn't sure. A lot of people look at you weird if you mention it. But I look around at all this, space, the vacuum. I don't understand, how can you look at all this and not believe in something greater? There's amazing things in the galaxy. There's an electric current five hundred thousand miles long with enough power running through it to power the entirety of humanity's presence in Sol system until Sol explodes. There's...it's just incredible."

Ferin just nodded, looking at the sergeant curiously.

"I...I have to wonder. Was it by divine intervention that you arrived when you did and saved me? Was there a reason? Or was it just blind luck, was it just some random chance that I survived and all those good people didn't?"

"Sometimes, you just have to trust that things happened the way they did for the best. You can't change the past, Ash. You can't affect it, and you can't let it eat at you like this. There's...things you can control, and things you can't control. All of us have to make the conscious decisions to accept what we can't control and change what we can control."

"I know, ma'am. I just...I'm always on edge. Thinking about my squad, my platoon."

"Listen, Ash. I know that even after all these years, the military still has a stigma against it. But I want you to do something for me."

"What's that, ma'am?"

"Talk to Doc Mitchell."

"The psychologist? Really, ma'am?"

"Yeah. I mean it, Ash. I'm not a counselor. I don't know how to help you. But he will. And psychological wounds are as bad as physical wounds. They're worse in that sometimes time won't heal them."

"I don't have psychological problems, ma'am."

"Maybe not, but I think that you have some issues. I've noticed that you have panic attacks occasionally. You don't look like you're sleeping much. And you're depressed about Eden Prime. Don't try and deny it."

"I-"

"I just want you to get evaluated. Be honest, be open. I think you need to get a bandage wrapped around this injury."

"Is that an order, ma'am?"

"I don't want it to be. But I will order you to see him if I have to. What I want is for you to want to be helped. Doc Mitchell's a good guy, Ash. He cares about everybody on board."

Ashley sighed. "Fine, ma'am."

"Thanks, Ash. And...if you ever need to talk about something, I have an open door policy. You know that, right?"

"Yes ma'am. It...would just feel weird to walk in and start talking about my problems with you, ma'am."

"Why's that?"

"You outrank me. By a lot. You're my boss," she said with a slight smile. Ferin laughed.

"Listen, Ash, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm also a friend. No, I can't be there for everyone on the crew. That's why we have a chain of command. But, hell, you, Garrus, all of the squad report directly to me. And honestly, I'd rather have it that way. If there's one thing I love as an N7, it's operating in small units with people I trust."

"Yeah. Thanks, ma'am."

"You gonna do what I asked?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Alright. And maybe you should go and get a guy for a night, while you're at it."

Ash smiled slightly. "Who says I haven't?"

"Just a hunch. Trust me, it's a good idea."

Ashley smirked. "Maybe."

Ferin laughed. "Anyone in mind?"

"Some of the Marines here are kind of cute. Sergeant Jackson, Corporal Kai. Hell, Lieutenant Alenko isn't bad-looking."

Ferin grinned. "Kaidan catch your eye?"

She laughed. "Don't matter. Scuttlebutt says he's sweet on someone already."

Ferin shook her head with a smile. "Take care of yourself, Ash."

"Will do, skipper."

Ferin briefly touched Ashley's shoulder, then turned and left. She wasn't surprised that Ash was going through issues. Survivor's guilt, depression, she might even have PTSD. There wasn't much Ferin could do for her other than recommend a counselor. A lot of soldiers had problems, she'd come to realize in her decade of service. Most didn't - in non-combat roles, almost no one had psychological wounds - but in combat arms and special operations, the number spiked. Depression, alcoholism, post-traumatic stress, in addition to repeated tramatic brain injuries and physical injuries left many soldiers wounded but unwilling to seek aid, suffering in silence. Ferin herself had wounds that she'd only managed to recover from after therapy. Akuze...

She shook the memories out of her mind, switching her mind to the mission at hand. The incredibly daunting task of finding Saren when all they knew was what he wanted, not where he was, where what he wanted was, why he wanted it, how he was going to achieve it, or when he was going to make his move for it. They had no leads. Dr. T'Soni was an asset, but she had little to offer other than confirming what they'd already suspected. The cipher had helped, but all it told them was he was looking for a planet that was inaccessible. She sighed in frustration. They'd just have to wait for intelligence from the Council's spies. In the meantime, they were en route to the Citadel to drop off the remaining STG elements and the remaining N7s into S.U. and Alliance care, respectively. The Salarian Union had been understanding about the killed salarians, at least, and their bodies were being returned with their dog tags, as well. Ferin absent-mindedly stroked the Alliance flag on her right arm as she returned to her quarters, logging onto her extra-net mail.

Six messages. Three were marked priority and were heavily encrypted. She frowned, skipping past the other three messages - just something about her subscription to an online first-person shooter she hadn't played in a while, some kind of official apology from ExoGeni, and some random message from a rear admiral she didn't know. Two of the top-secret emails were from steven. .mil - the Admiral. Ferin read carefully, skimming past the usual, automated fluff on top that warned her that the material was TS/SCI, for official use only, blah blah blah. The messages were short and concise - Admiral Hackett's usual style. Former S.A. scientists, who used to be part of an unnamed black ops branch, were disappearing under suspicious circumstances. Alliance forces were tracking the next one the spooks guessed would disappear, a Dr. Wayne. He concluded with a strange note that the assignment would be of personal interest to her, with more information to follow when Alliance forces had gotten a general location. She frowned. _What does he mean by that? _She'd never worked with a Dr. Wayne. The next message informed her that there was a situation with regards to munitions left over from the First Contact War. There was an old espionage probe with a nuke in it that had started transponding again, but from Agebinium, a planet in the Voyager cluster, far outside its projected path. The Admiral wanted her to investigate.

The third message was more disturbing. It was from Rear Admiral Kahoku, who informed her that a team of Alliance Marines had been killed. She remembered his previous message - a general call to N7s to assist with the search. An ODA had investigated, and come across the Marines on Edolus. They'd been lured by a fake Alliance distress beacon into the middle of a thresher maw nest. Ferin closed her eyes. For a moment she could feel the sting of the acid, hear the screams. With a thick swallow, she forced herself to keep reading. He'd determined that an Alliance black ops branch that had gone rogue had been responsible...she frowned. It wasn't the first time that she'd heard "Alliance black ops" in the last few weeks. More than was coincidence. The Admiral had sent it to her with orders to investigate, but there was an addendum that said that he needed to disappear, as the black ops group was hunting him. There was no name for the group, but the wheels in her head were spinning. There was way more than coincidence. After thinking it over, she decided they'd investigate before she questioned Miranda. If Cerberus was involved in some of this, though...

A knock came at her door.

"Commander. It's Lieutenant Alenko."

"Kaidan!" Ferin looked up with surprise. She opened the door. "What's up?"

"Not much, commander." He looked uncomfortable for some reason. "Just wanted to talk, I guess."

"Sure. Come on in," she said, stepping back to let the Marine in. He looked around, twisting a patrol cap in his hands as the door closed behind her. "What's going on?"

"It's not about me, Commander."

"I always tell you not to be so formal, Kaidan."

He smiled slightly. "Okay. Shepard."

"What's going on? Who's this about?"

"It's...about you, Shepard."

Ferin cocked her head, frowning slightly. "Really? What is it?"

"I...I'm a little worried about you, Shepard."

"How's that?" Ferin smiled. Kaidan didn't return it.

"You're a lot more distracted since we left the Citadel. All the time, not just on mission. Sometimes it's not as evident, sometimes you focus, but something happened on the Citadel. I don't know if it's bad or good, but it's affecting you."

Ferin raised an eyebrow. "You're presuming a lot, lieutenant."

"I-I'm sorry, I don't want to pry in your affairs. It's just that...I'm worried about you, ma'am. I've never seen you distracted like this. And your mood hasn't been exactly the best, which makes me think something bad happened. I know I've only known you for a year and a half or so, but I know you well enough to see when you're not feeling good."

"I'm alright, Kaidan." She was surprised by his perception. She'd thought she'd been doing a pretty good job of hiding her issues.

"...If you're sure, Shepard. I'm here to talk to, if you want. I know you spend a lot of time letting other people cry on your shoulder, but...well, counselors all need to get counseled, you know?"

"Thanks." She smiled, although she was worrying more about her crew. "So...does everyone think I've gotten more distracted?"

"Not really, ma'am. I think I'm the only one who's really noticed."

Ferin nodded. That at least helped. She couldn't afford to have her leadership weakened. Still, it was interesting that he'd noticed. She supposed he and Captain Anderson were the ones who'd known her the best while she'd been onboard the Normandy.

"Thanks...Kaidan. Maybe..." her resolve wavered. What was happening with the past was eating at her, and she knew it. "Maybe it'd be a good idea to have a chat. Just between us."

He nodded. "Of course, Shepard."

Hours later, Ferin finished explaining her past life and the events on the Citadel to Kaidan, she was sitting with her back propped up against the wall, tears running down her cheeks. She hadn't intended to reveal so much, but talking about one thing had led to another and suddenly she was telling Kaidan about everything. She'd spent too long carrying around years of pain and hurt. Between Akuze, the Reds, the soldiers she'd lost in the Skyllian Blitz, and all the losses and hits she'd taken in the intervening years...she'd been crying and talking for the last few hours. Her former friend's demise had just been too much to bear, she supposed. It felt good to let it out, but she was ashamed of the tears, ashamed of the past life, ashamed of her weakness. Kaidan put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into an embrace. She wrapped her arms around his midriff, resting her head against his shoulder in a strangely intimate moment. It was cathartic, releasing everything. Dangerous, but cathartic nonetheless. She felt a sense of relief, that at least someone knew what she was going through.

"It's okay, Ferin."

"No. It's not, Kaidan."

"Yes, it is. Not a lot of people could turn out like you did with a past like that. I...had no idea, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. I just...it hurts, Kaidan."

"I know." Kaidan gently stroked her hair as he held her. "But you're strong, Ferin. Stronger than any person I've ever met, anywhere. Everyone sees it, you know. Hell ,that's why Wrex and Miranda and Tali and all of them follow you. You'll drive on and carry on like always, right?"

"Yeah. Sometimes there's too much, though."

"Nothing happens to anybody that he is not fitted by nature to bear."

Ferin let out a half-laugh. "Marcus Aurelius."

Kaidan laughed himself. "Actually, Russell Crowe. For me. One of those old movies back from the 2000s. Gladiator. See? You're not just intimidatingly strong and attractive, you're also a warrior scholar."

She smiled slightly. "Knowing quotes don't make a person a scholar."

"No, but you're an intellectual as much as a soldier."

"Flattery."

He smiled at her. Ferin rested her cheek against his shoulder again. It was strange, his heart was beating so fast. She supposed hers was fluttering, too. It felt comfortable, natural to be lying against him. She looked up at him, and in that moment, it seemed like everything was moving in slow motion. It seemed like she knew what was about to happen, like it was pre-ordained and she was only acting it out. Like it was unstoppable, but she didn't want to stop it, as she closed her eyes and met Kaidan's lips with her own. It felt like a jolt of electricity through her body, feeling the warmth of his lips against her own, as heat suffused her body, an animal desire that every sentient being knew filling her heart. She wrapped her arms around the man's muscular torso, crushing her mouth against his and throwing away her cares about regulations and rules away.

She barely noticed as Kaidan picked her up, wrapping her legs around his waist to hold herself up. She didn't know how long they'd been kissing, it was just a haze. She fell backwards onto the bed, feeling his hands pulling at her clothes, baring her upper body, before he stopped, suddenly. Panting, she looked up at him with surprise.

"What's wrong, Kaidan?"

"I...I'm just...are you sure you want to do this, Ferin?"

"Yes. I'm absolutely certain, Kaidan. Unless...you..."

"No, I'm...I'm sorry. I guess I must sound stupid. Not a lot of guys would pause in the middle of something like this with an incredible woman like you, but...this is just something I've never taken lightly."

"It's okay, Kaidan. I understand."

He nodded. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright with it."

He leaned back down and gave her another gentle kiss. She felt goosebumps rise along her skin as she pulled him down on top of her. His clothes came off along with her trousers, her boots, leaving them lying wrapped around each other in the tangled sheets of the bed, his fingers running along the smooth, hairless skin between her legs, along her slick folds, pressing against the soft bud and her opening, pressing inside her. She could feel the heat coming off his skin, his body hovering just above her skin, her own muscles taut with anticipation.

Ferin let her head fall back against her pillow with ecstasy as she felt Kaidan enter her, her toes curling, her legs resting around his hips, pulling him deeper against her. She could feel a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time in her chest, filling her heart, that strange tingly feeling as their bodies moved rhythmically, in unison. She rolled over on top of him, straddling his hips, her body poised just over her lover's tip, feeling him just barely inside him, rubbing him across her lips and that soft bud that sent sparkles of pleasure running through her body every time he rubbed against it. Finally, she sank back onto him, feeling him filling her completely, with a wordless cry of pleasure. She bounced up and down on him, hastening her pace as she felt the pleasure running through her body.

She could feel her release building up inside her as she rode him, her hands on his shoulders, hugging his body to her breasts, she heard herself release a cry as she crested around him, panting and falling back over onto her back as they continued making love, his hands running across her body, brushing over her nipples, making her feel incredibly alive, her senses overloaded with the sensations running through her body. It all felt inconceivably good, her interior walls stretched and her body trembling and flushed, sweat running down her brow, her heart hammering like she'd sprinted three miles. As she quickly reached her second peak, she heard Kaidan grunt, pushing himself as deeply as he could inside her, reaching his peak at the same time as her, throwing her head back with a wail of ecstasy as she felt him spilling inside her before he collapsed on top of her.

* * *

When Ferin awoke, she was lying against Kaidan, his arm curled protectively around her. She smiled slightly as memories of the last night flooded her mind, curling herself contently against the still-sleeping man. She felt more relaxed than she had in...a longer time than she cared to remember. There was a strange feeling of happiness in her core, and she felt lighter than she had in a long time. She let herself savor the feeling, closing her eyes and just laying there for some time, before Kaidan stirred.

"Morning."

Kaidan rubbed his eyes and started to sit up, jumping in surprise when he saw Ferin's very naked body lying beside him.

"Commander! I..."

He blushed as he remembered the last night. Finally, he smiled, shaking his head. "Morning, Shepard."

Ferin smiled, laying back against him as he idly stroked her skin, running his fingers over one of her tattoos.

"You know, I've never seen most of your tattoos."

"That's because you've never seen me naked," she said with a laugh.

"Are you one of those people who got tattoos that are just to look good, or do they mean something to you?"

"All of them mean something," Ferin shrugged. "Some of them are really personal. But you can ask, if you want."

"Okay..."

He sat up, looking down at her body. "Ignoring the ones on your arms, since I've seen them...what's this one on your side mean to you? 'Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die.' Sounds grim."

"It's a slightly changed quote from Alfred, Lord Tennyson - the Charge of the Light Brigade. You know your military history, LT?"

He smiled. "Not as well as I should."

"Part of the Crimean War. The Earl of Cardigan, outnumbered vastly, led 673 light cavalrymen in a charge against Russian forces. It was a suicide mission due to misunderstood orders, but they all obeyed. The commander led from the front - the most dangerous position. The Russians initially thought the Brits were drunk. The French commander said 'It is magnificent, but it is not war. It is madness.' I think..." she shrugged. "It epitomizes the soldier's spirit. We receive orders and we execute within the given framework."

Kaidan nodded. "Understandable. What about this one?" His fingers ran over her shoulder, over an amazingly detailed black-winged angel, naked, on her knees, her blonde head dropped in despair, gripping a broken longsword. He frowned as he realized there was a list of names intricately hidden in the tattoo. "Jackson. Liu. Kovalenko. Jones. Mbarri. Khalil. Wu. Berard. Wei. Shinzo. Han."

Ferin hesitated. "It's...my team. ODA 61127."

He paused. "I understand." She nodded. Finally, she explained it.

"It's something I do whenever I'm on a mission and a teammate I was working with goes down."

"A mission?"

"Yeah. Not things like when I'm commanding a company, but like when I'm in the action too."

"I see."

She paused. "I haven't had time to get Jenkins added yet."

He nodded. "It's a memorial wall for you."

"Yeah. They're always with me."

His hands found their way to the front of her waist, centered just below her hips. "Another poem...'We are not now that strength which in old days moved Earth and Heaven. That which we are, we are: equal temper of heroic hearts made weak by fate and time, but strong in will, to strike, to seek, to find, and not to yield.'"

She smiled slightly, her mind still on her fallen comrades. "Ulysses. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, again."

"What does it mean?"

She paused. "I'd rather not say."

"Okay." He curled his arms around her again, pulling her close. She smiled, cuddling up against him, glancing at the clock with a sigh.

"I'd better get up. We've been lying around for too long."

He smiled. "Alright."

She groaned, sitting up and rolling out of the bed. " Better see what's going on with the ship..."

She walked over to the TV display, tapping the holographic controls and bringing up its secondary function. As well as an entertainment system, it also allowed her to review ship logs and travel course, as well as monitor security cameras if she needed to - a way of allowing the captain of the ship to have control and knowledge of events at all times. She frowned.

"Looks like we docked at the Citadel. I wonder why Joker didn't inform me we were getting close."

"Probably better that he didn't," Kaidan observed.

"You don't think that he-"

"I doubt it," Kaidan said, raising his hands. "And besides, even if he did, Joker wouldn't tell everyone on board."

Ferin raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, maybe he would. Still, I don't think we have anything to worry about," he said, as he pulled his shirt back over his head. "Anyway, if we're docked, I'd better head out. Engineer Adams asked me to pick up some supplies the next time we docked...apparently he's too busy to put in a requisition order himself like all the other personnel."

She shrugged. "He's a good engineer. Looks like the Council wants to talk to me. I'd better see what this is about."

"Have fun, Shepard," Kaidan said with a smirk. He headed out, pausing at the door. "I'll probably go look for Ash when I've gotten what Adams wants, if you want to find me later. Although this is a quick stop, right?"

"Yeah. We're gonna be here for less than 24 hours."

"Roger that, Commander." Kaidan left, leaving Ferin to smile as she looked around the cabin. After a moment of thought, she picked up her usual attire - a set of ACUs - and headed over to the bathroom to take a quick shower and get dressed.

In the Council chamber, Councilor Sparatus - the turian - looked as displeased as ever. Councilor Valern looked as worried as ever. Councilor Tevos looked as neutral as ever.

"Greetings, Colonel Shepard. This meeting of the Council is now in session," Tevos said in her usual, soothing monotone.

"We attempted to contact you after your mission on Feros," Sparatus said. "Would you care to explain why you did not answer?"

Ferin frowned. "We took heavy casualties on Feros, and several key personnel in my squad were injured severely. I was seeing to the welfare of my soldiers and analyzing intelligence."

"And failing to keep us appraised of the situation."

Tevos interjected. "I am sure that Shepard would not have failed to inform us of what was going on unless it was necessary. And now that she is here, she can inform us directly."

"Very well."

Ferin sighed internally. "On Feros, we discovered that the geth had attacked in an attempt to contact a sentient lifeform on the planet that appears to have existed for at least fifty thousand years."

"Oh?"

"Yes. ExoGeni Corporation had discovered it and were researching it. It appeared to have mind controlling abilities - ExoGeni sent some of their colonists to be infected and mind controlled purposefully, in order to study how the thorian - what they had taken to calling it - was doing what it was doing."

"These are serious allegations," Tevos said. "Have you any proof?"

"Two ExoGeni researchers - Juliana and Lizbeth Baynham - can testify regarding it, as well as the colonists themselves. The thorian had also taken control of an S.A. team of N7 Marines and the STG operatives who went missing in the area."

Valern nodded. "Yes, the Salarian Union took custody of the surviving STG operatives from your Sergeant Williams earlier today. We thank you, although we question why you felt it necessary to kill so many."

"I was not a part of the operation at that point in time, but we took all steps we could to reduce bloodshed. Unfortunately, the thorian assumed we were hostile and attempted to kill us with the enslaved colonists and soldiers. While we were able to overcome the civilians easily, the STG operatives and N7s were trained special operations units, and lethal force was the only way we could stay alive ourselves."

Sparatus shook his head with irritation. "Regardless of casualties, what happened? Did you discover what Saren wanted with the thorian?"

"He's looking for Ilos. He's trying to get to the Mu Relay. And it wasn't Saren. Before we killed the thorian, it said he serves the Reapers."

Sparatus sighed heavily. "We've been over this before, Shepard. The Reapers are a myth."

"The thorian claimed otherwise. It even referred to Saren as "he-who-serves-the-machines". And it was around to see the Reapers wipe out the Protheans."

"Bah. The machines could have been a reference to the geth. And if it was around when the Reapers wiped out all organic life in the past, how would it have survived? Your small team managed to destroy a one-of-a-kind, unique specimen fairly handily."

"Some things are too dangerous to let live, Councilor. And I don't know how it could have survived. But you're blinding yourself to the truth, Councilor. Saren is trying to bring the Reapers back. The Conduit he's searching for is on Ilos."

"Enough," Tevos said. "We may disagree on Saren's motives, but we know his objective. That will have to be enough. Unfortunately, the Mu Relay is long lost. There is no way for Saren to reach Ilos without it."

"That may not be true, Tevos. We have a saying in the Union - fix your eyes on one truth and become blind to all the rest. One method of reaching Ilos being cut off does not mean there are not other methods we do not know of," Valern said.

"True enough. Do you have information, Valern?"

"I believe I do. Shepard, STG scouts have reported two planets that you may find beneficial to investigate. On Noveria, we have received reports that Matriarch Benezia has some sort of interest in the planet, and geth flyers have been reported in the system. And there is a small planet in the Terminus systems - very similar to Earth, in fact - named Virmire. We have an STG team in place there that report a mysterious compound. They are currently attempting to infiltrate the facility without being detected, but communications are choppy. I would advise that you search Noveria first, while the STG team uncovers more information on Virmire."

"I understand, Councilor. Is there anything else?"

The Councilors glanced at each other, shaking their heads, then returned their gaze to Ferin. "That will be all, Colonel. This meeting of the Council is adjourned."

Almost immediately after leaving the Council Chambers, Ferin returned to the Normandy. Most of the crew was already back; a quick all-hands call from her omni-tool summoned the rest back to the Normandy. It wasn't long before they were on a course to Agebinium. Noveria was a priority, but Ferin was still an Alliance soldier, and Agebinium was on the way. She could investigate and secure the probe with a small team of Marines before they landed on Noveria. Given that Noveria was a heavily defended corporate world, they probably wouldn't be seeing combat, so she was anticipating landing herself, despite her heavy concussion and the fact that her ears were still tender. As for Agebinium, although it was odd that the probe was so far outside its projected path, anything could have happened - a small collision with an asteroid could have knocked it that far off course. With Ashley and Kaidan at her side - she didn't want to tell any of the aliens on board that there were Alliance nukes floating around. While she trusted them, it was still something they didn't need to know. Her, Ash and Kaidan would be able to handle it if it was salvagers messing with it.

* * *

Agebinium was a dusty, red planet, much like Mars, with sweeping vistas and massive mountains. Stepping outside the Mako, Ferin was instantly coated with a thin layer of silica dust, which found its way into everything, and left her looking as though she her armor was painted red, with no camouflage scheme. "Well," Ashley's filtered voice came over the radio, "it's nice and dry here."

"Yeah. Let's see..." Ferin brought up an area map on her omni-tool. "Looks like the transponder is coming from five klicks southeast. It's weak, but it's there. Let's go."

"How do we even know that this nuke is still there?" Kaidan asked. "I mean, it could just be the transponder or something. The probe might not be here at all."

"Possible, but unlikely," Ferin said. "The transponder was built into the trigger. The real question is what is it doing on Agebinium?"

"Well, let's go find out." The three slowly walked back up the ramp into the Mako, closing the hatch behind them and pulling their helmets off once the airlocks sealed.

"It's goddamn hot here," Ferin said, wiping some of her blonde hair off of her sweaty forehead. She sighed as she shook out her long hair from where it had been scrunched up against her head and neck, letting it fall around her shoulders and down her back, the normally silky strands stuck together from sweat and falling in clumps to her armpits. Her Hahne-Kedar armor was designed with a thin layer of soft padding between the hardened synthetic weave and the ceramic plating and her bare skin, which reduced chafing and irritation from the rough synthetic weave rubbing against the skin. Although they'd had boots on the ground for only thirty minutes, the padding was soaked through with sweat. The Mako read 76 degrees on the Celsius scale outside.

"We got unlucky," Kaidan said. "The sun's in its heat cycle right now. For the next two years, Agebinium's getting blasted with incredible amounts of radiation. Normally it's well below freezing on the planet."

"That ain't much better," Ferin remarked.

He shrugged. "Let's just get the probe and get back to the Normandy."

It wasn't long before the Mako reached the probe's transponder. Ashley halted the Mako and pointed out the windshield at a nearby mine shaft leading into a mountain.

"Ma'am, the transponder's signal is coming from in the mountain."

"Well, at least it'll be less hot in there."

"I guess that's one way of looking at it."

"How are you looking at it, sergeant?"

"That someone moved the transponder into the mountain for a reason, and they're probably not going to be happy to see us."

"Well, there is that."

Ferin sighed. "Why is it that whenever we go somewhere, we always end up killing someone?"

"Must be something about you that makes people want to die."

They pulled their helmets back on, letting the helmets seal to their armor, then clambered out of the Mako, easily ascending the stairwell to the mineshaft thanks to the planet's light gravity. Ferin unslung her M4 and tapped the entrance, rushing into the mineshaft with her weapon at the ready, Ashley on her right and Kaidan on her left.

"Clear. Let's go."

The lighting in the tunnel was dark but passable. Ferin activated her helmet flashlight with a tap of her omni-tool, covering it with her left hand as they advanced on corners, allowing it to shine brightly as they advanced through straight sections.

The three soldiers moved as stealthily as possible, leaving Ferin to hear nothing but her own breathing and the steady drips of water from leaky pipes in the mineshaft. She breathed a sigh of relief as they descended, the temperature steadily decreasing as they kept going down, to a steady 44 degrees. It was actually cold enough with the sweat-soaked padding in her armor that Ferin was shivering a little.

"Ferin."

She turned to see Kaidan gesturing at a corpse.

"Got a body here," he said quietly over the radio. "Looks to have been dead for a couple weeks. Execution, one round to the back of the head. High-caliber bullet."

"Stay soft," she breathed as Kaidan resumed his position in their small wedge.

"Got a door."

"Roger."

"Stack up."

Ashley took the 1-man position, Ferin pressed up beside her and Kaidan leaning into Ferin, their feet interlaced. Ashley tapped Ferin's shoulder; she passed the signal to Kaidan, who signaled he was ready to go. Ash tapped the door control and charged into the room, going left while Ferin went right, Kaidan going left with Ash.

The room was empty, although it was half-flooded. They stood about six meters above the bowl-shaped room, in the center of which was the probe they were looking for, probably 20 meters long. Ferin paused and advanced, examining it.

"No evidence of tampering. Looks like the nuke's intact. Ash, raise the Normandy and tell them to get some Marines down here to help extract it. Don't let them send Tali, she'll probably be able to tell there's a nuke inside. And don't mention a nuke around anyone who comes down. Kaidan, let's look around. Something's gotta tell us who put it down here, and why."

Ashley frowned. "Ma'am, I'm not getting any signal from the Normandy."

"That's odd. We're not that far underg-"

An unfamiliar voice came from the direction of the nuke. Ferin spun, bringing her rifle's stock to her shoulder. Above the probe floated an unfamiliar face, projected holographically. "Hello, Captain Shepard."

She frowned. She hadn't been a Captain since the Skyllian Blitz.

"Do I know you?"

"No, but I know you. My name is Elanos Haliat."

"Did you bring the probe down here?"

"Of course. How else could I lure the first human Spectre, the hero of the Skyllian Blitz, the lone survivor of Akuze, to her death?"

As he spoke, she heard charges detonate somewhere in the distance. The ground shook, dust and dirt falling from the top of the mineshaft, and she faintly heard a rumbling collapse.

"What are you talking about?"

"I remember the Skyllian Blitz. I was the lord of the Terminus systems, you know. All the batarians, the turians, the slavers and mercs, they answered to me. Why? Because strength begets strength, of course. I was the one who organized, I was the one who led the Skyllian Blitz. Until a certain Special Forces Captain who was on Elysium managed to single-handedly repel those incompetent batarians. Then, when they looked for blame, it was me they blamed. Me. Overnight, I lost _everything_."

He snarled the last word, baring his teeth. Ferin pretended to smirk.

"I guess it's you I have to thank for my Star of Terra, then."

"But now," he said, ignoring her, "I find our situations reversed. You are trapped underground with a nuclear device. Your exit was just sealed with a seismic charge. I thank you for the kind donation of your armored personnel carrier. And soon, you and your friends will be consumed by nuclear fire."

"You're a big talker," she commented off-handedly as she scanned the room for exits. "Wonder what you're compensating for."

"You're going to die down here, Shepard, and soon I will reclaim my place as king of the Terminus systems," he snapped angrily. "You're going to die and there won't even be anything of you to bury."

"Yeah, yeah."

After a moment, he suddenly laughed. "Very well, Shepard. Countdown initiated. Goodbye."

The hologram cut out as the transmission ended, and a timer appeared on the side of the nuke. 10 seconds. _Shit!_ She quickly thought back to the schematics of the nuke and what she'd been taught in EOD training in N7.

"Kaidan! Go there, use this program I'm uploading! Ash, you go over there and do the same!"

She ran to the third hardpoint, desperately activating her omni-tool and waving it rapidly over the hardpoint as she flipped through the holographic display, typing and gesturing as she attempted to override the trigger mechanism at that point and relying on the VI to sync with Ashley and Kaidan's omni-tools so they'd do the same thing that her omni-tool was. Adrenaline flooding her system, she managed to override the hardpoints on the twenty-year-old probe within a few seconds, halting the timer and defusing the bomb unless manually triggered or the hardpoints were repaired. Ferin exhaled heavily.

"That was tense."

"Yeah. But are we trapped here?"

"There's gotta be another way out. Can you raise the Normandy?"

"Hang on...neg."

"Great. Alright, look around. There's a few doors, one of them has to lead to the surface."

It took a few tries and false starts through some of the doors that led deeper into the bowels of the mine, but they eventually found an upward-sloping tunnel that led through a maze of steeply sloped tunnels. It'd been a few hours since they'd entered the mine, and as they exited, the sun was beginning to dip beneath the horizon. Ferin looked around, the scorching heat causing her to start sweating again already. They were standing on a plateau that was higher up on the mountain than they had been when they entered - significantly higher, in fact. Ashley panted as she came up beside Ferin, taking a knee in the exposed position.

"That was...a really goddamn...long climb."

Kaidan grunted as he knelt on the other side of her. "Good thing...we do...so much...PT."

Ferin grinned. "You two out of breath? Maybe y'all need to work out more."

She brought up the map on her omni-tool, looking around on it. They were on the other side of the mountain. According to the records...it'd be a really long walk back to where they'd come from. At least they could raise the Normandy.

"Ash, tell Joker what's going on. Kaidan, stay with her. I'm gonna scout around real quick, be back in ten, just stand fast. If I don't come back, call for back up from the Normandy. If we get shot at, tell Joker and haul ass to wherever I'm at."

"Will do."

Ferin set off at a low jog to the west, her M4 held at the low ready as she scanned the horizon. She abruptly came upon the edge of the plateau and dropped into a crawl, peeking out over the edge to see a small camp set up maybe five kilometers away. She frowned. The camp was set in a very indefensible position, in the low point between three high points. Besides the obvious disadvantage from the high ground, there was only one direction that anyone could retreat if the camp was attacked. She set her Valkyrie beside her and pulled her anti-materiel rifle off her back, allowing the semi-automatic sniper rifle to activate. The rifle wasn't the usual sniper rifle she carried into battle; her Valiant had been damaged on Feros and she was still waiting on a replacement model. Instead, she carried the M-108 Widowmaker, a devastating semi-automatic anti-materiel rifle that fired five rounds per thermal clip, as opposed to the Valiant, which fired ten. The Widowmaker more than made up for it with power, though, firing massive 15.5mm tungsten rounds that, if they impacted an target with liquids in it - like organics - caused a cavitation effect that could literally rip them in half. The rounds it fired could easily punch through medium armor at range; each one had a mass of precisely 300.26 grams, and were accelerated to 7.5 km/s in a hundredth of a second, imparting around 8 to 8.5 megajoules of energy in an instant when they impacted. It required 50.6 megapounds of force to accelerate the round, all of which also slammed into the shooter's shoulder; even though the weapon weighed a good 31 kilograms, it could still shatter a person's shoulder if they were unaugmented. A fact all of her N7 instructors had loved was that the weapon, if fired without a shoulder behind the stock and the built-in mass effect fields active, would fly backwards at 72 m/s - 162 miles per hour. Even with the mass effect fields, which activated with every round fired to increase its mass, the weapon would fly back at around 30 miles an hour, which made augmentations and armor a necessity to operate it. Or being a krogan. Ferin preferred the Valiant, or even the M-110 Phoenix, but the sheer power of the Widowmaker was hard to dispute. Against organic targets, any impact was almost guaranteed to be a kill shot unless it hit a part of the limb that was as distal from the torso as possible; torso hits would rip targets in half or leave holes half a foot across in them, limb hits would rip the limb off, and headshots would leave nothing remaining. The weapon was in fact so overpowered against personnel that its use against them was discouraged, and the rounds never imparted their full energy against soft targets, simply passing straight through. Alliance guidelines were to use it against medium or light armor, krogan, gunships, aircraft, and bunkers or positions cover equating to more than ten meters of ferroconcrete. Of course, guidelines were just guidelines.

She pulled down the bipod, resting it on the edge of the plateau, and placed her eye to the scope, scanning the camp through it for targets and information. There were a lot of people there, most of them armed, who weren't wearing any identifying insignias or markings. They were probably rag-tag, unaffiliated mercs, or slavers. General lowlifes. She saw the Normandy's Mako parked a fair distance away. She wasn't sure how they'd managed to turn on and drive the Mako - maybe an old Alliance pilot was with them, and maybe a fairly skilled hacker was with them. They at least were pulling security around their camp - she saw a couple roving patrols and more sentries posted around the perimeter. It looked like the camp was on high-alert, probably because the nuke hadn't detonated. She was surprised Haliat hadn't sent patrols into the tunnels, although perhaps he was wary after she'd annihilated his forces in the Skyllian Blitz. Aside from the camp, there were two sniper's perches, a small motor pool with about a dozen hoverbikes in it, a central tent - looked like a command and control structure. They'd erected some sandbags on raised platforms and around the camp to serve as makeshift cover. She figured there was housing for around fifty or sixty people overall there, though she wasn't sure how many were actually in the camp.

She took her eye away from the scope and checked her omni-tool. Her time hack was about to expire.

"Shadow 1-2, Shadow 1-1."

"I read you, ma'am."

"Need you at my pos. I think I see the piece of shit who tried to kill us."

"Affirmative. On our way."

Ferin sighed, adjusting the windage and elevation and making minor adjustments to the scope as she sighted through it, occasionally checking the holographic display in her visor for Ash and Kaidan's position. She wasn't surprised when she heard their footsteps behind her, quietly approaching, although she turned and drew her pistol just in case. Upon seeing them, she holstered her pistol and returned her eye to the scope as they crawled up beside her.

"So what's the situation, ma'am?"

"Twenty-plus enemy. Five point two two klicks west south west. They've got our Mako."

"What's the plan?"

"Don't want to destroy the Mako if possible, so orbital bombardment's a last resort. But I think we can whittle them down from here."

"Aye aye, ma'am."

Kaidan gestured to Ash, who unslung her own sniper rifle. It was an older model, the old Alliance M92 Mantis. It was a solid weapon, with a higher range than Ferin's sniper rifle, though it fired a lower-caliber round and fired fewer times per thermal clip, as well as lacking multiple other features. She set up a bipod as well, carefully bringing her eye to the scope and scanning. While Ash set up, Ferin kept in contact with the Normandy, telling them to get a platoon of Marines prepped for combat.

"Been a while since I used the old Mantis," Ashley remarked.

"You think you'll be good shooting?"

"Yes ma'am. It's like riding a bike."

Ferin smiled.

"Okay...I see a guy working on the Mako. You see him?"

"Yeah. What's he doing?"

"Probably checking its functionality and weapons. I think he's the guy who drove it back. Former Alliance, probably. I want you to take him out. There's a guy with a sniper rifle in that tower closer to us. See him?"

"Uh huh."

"He's your second target. How many shots per thermal clip for the Mantis? I ain't used it in forever, I don't remember."

"Five, ma'am."

Ferin nodded. "Well, shoot as quick as you can." She sighted carefully at her target, a sniper in the southern tower, overlooking the only exit and entrance to the camp. They appeared to be the only two snipers - if Ash and her were able to keep the other mercs away from the sniper rifles and the Mako, it'd be like shooting fish in a barrel. The assault rifles and battle rifles the other mercs were using didn't have the range to hit the three soldiers on the plateau.

"Alright, Ash. On your go."

Ash slipped her finger into the trigger well, resting it gently on the weapon as she watched her breathing. Ferin did the same, inhaling and exhaling in time with Ash as she waited, her finger slowly depressing the trigger. Finally, Ash's rifle barked - startlingly loud in the silence beforehand. Ferin's rifle fired a half second after Ashley's, the actual discharge of the round surprising as it always was - confident in her marksmanship, she adjusted her aim before seeing if the round impacted. Kaidan, watching through a monocular, announced a hit three quarters of a second seconds later as the round struck its target in the chest, the sudden, immense pressure in his torso causing his flesh to bulge outwards for a split second. As the tissue displaced outwards, it created a low-pressure cavity where the flesh had been displaced by the pressure wave, rapidly extending outwards and imploding in on itself until it reached the outer edge of his body, literally ripping the man in half. Ferin fired again even as Kaidan announced a hit, then immediately shifted her sights and reduced the magnification of the scope to gain a view of the entire camp. The shooters in the camp were panicking, running around the camp and grabbing weapons. Her second target sprinted directly into the round she fired, blowing his left arm off his body, breaching his exosuit, and blowing a hole in his oxygen recycler. Any of the three would have been lethal if he didn't respond immediately; all three together left him with no chance of survival as he fell to the ground. In the corner, she saw Ashley's target lying slumped against the Mako, a neat hole through his throat as blood poured onto the sand.

The camp was alive with activity now. Ferin assumed they'd sounded an alarm, although at the distance they were at and with Agebinium's thin atmosphere, they couldn't hear anything from the camp; the wind wasn't in the right direction to carry the sound, and the criminals could probably communicate soundlessly inside their helmets anyway. She heard Ash fire another round from the Mantis; a few seconds later, a spray of dust and rocks kicked up beside one smuggler's feet, causing him to stumble in fear and dive for cover.

"Targets northeast side of the camp. They're going for their bikes." Kaidan sounded strained.

"Shifting."

Ferin fired a quickly aimed round, missing her target and instead blowing a hole through his bike's engine block. He fell off his hoverbike, obscuring her view of him, and she shifted her aim three meters right, aiming at a guy who had gotten his bike started. The round blew through his bike and struck him in the leg; he and the bike smashed into the ground, flipping and tumbling before the bike landed on top of him in a quickly spreading pool of blood. As she scanned for another target, she saw one guy topple, his arms flying up as one of Ashley's rounds caught him in his hip, sending him tumbling in the dirt. Ashley reloaded deftly.

"Like fish in a barrel."

More of the men in the camp had sought cover at that point. Ferin fired twice at a krogan whose bulk wasn't fully covered by the sandbags he was behind; the first missed high and hit the sandbags, above the krogan, sending sand pouring out of the large hole it left. The second hit his exposed foot and blew it off - probably nonlethal for the krogan, but he'd be crippled for months if he managed to get out alive and had the money to grow a clone to transplant.

"At the Mako," Kaidan warned. Ferin quickly moved her sights up to see two guys opening the hatch to the Mako.

"I can't take them, my rounds might damage the Mako. They're yours, Ash."

"Roger."

Ash fired twice, rapidly. The first round missed high, bouncing around inside the Mako. Ferin winced. She hoped it didn't hit anything sensitive. The second round hit the guy on the left, center mass. He spun and fell on the ramp, grasping at the wound in his back as he died.

"C'mon, Ash, get the other guy."

The ramp was starting to raise when Ash fired again, her round pinging off the raising ramp into the dirt before it closed.

"Fuck. Hope he don't know how to use the Mako."

"Target right."

Ferin tracked smoothly right and fired at the bottom of her exhalation. The bullet missed the turian, passing between his legs, close enough for him to feel the force of the bullet displacing the air around it. He stumbled in shock and fell, rolling before he regained his feet and staggered behind a tent.

"Shadow 1-1, Storm 7."

"Shepard here. What's the situation, Miranda?"

"You've got an enemy QRF, around twenty shooters, inbound from your 8 o'clock in civilian shuttles, ETA five mikes. Recommend you displace five zero zero meters at seven two degrees grid and seek cover in the rocks there. Marines will deploy in five mikes via airborne, over."

"Roger that. Out." She turned to Ashley, picking her Valiant up, packing the bipod, and deactivating it. She slung it on her back and picked up the Valkyrie she'd left on the ground. "Need to displace, we've got enemy coming from the southwest. Miranda says there's a good covered position five hundred meters at 72 degrees. Let's go."

"Check," Ashley said with a grunt as she picked up the heavy sniper rifle, jogging after Ferin as they moved uphill. "Fuck these mountains."

"The ones on Mars are worse," Ferin grunted. "So are the ones in the Himalayas. At least on Mars, they let us use exosuits. In the Himalayas, we just had our ACUs and cold weather gear."

"N7?"

"General training."

With the elevation, the three ended up traveling closer to 700 meters, but managed to make it in less than three minutes, a fairly fast pace given their equipment load. They returned to the prone in the rocks, setting up their sniper rifles again with Ashley watching their old position and Ferin still facing the camp. Kaidan pulled out his monocular, sitting cross-legged beside Ashley and scanning through it - not a true spotter, he lacked the tripod and more precise monoculars that the other half of regular sniper teams used.

"Ma'am, I got eyes on that QRF. Think if you use your rifle to put some rounds in their engine blocks...well, we'll be at risk, but they won't be able to close in on us."

"Rog'."

She picked up her rifle and crawled to Ash's side, setting the weapon down and sighting carefully through the rifle. She exhaled, then fired four times rapidly, the fourth round exiting her rifle's barrel less than half a second after the first, relying on the VIs in her armor and weapon and her own skills to control the recoil and adjust targets. At the close range, the rounds impacted almost instantly, hitting the first two vehicles squarely in the engine block, shattering the windshield on the third, and taking the fourth vehicle's driver's head off. The third vehicle veered sharply, the driver panicking, and drove straight off the edge of the plateau, a sheer drop of some nine hundred meters or so. The first and second vehicles slowly slid to a stop, until the fourth vehicle smashed into the back of the second vehicle, jolting everyone in both vehicles forward. As doors began to kick open and figures began to emerge, Ferin hissed in pain, rubbing her shoulder, which had been dislocated for a moment before her suit automatically popped the bone back into the socket. She'd forgotten she wasn't using her Valiant, and that was going to hurt really, really badly. Grimacing, she switched shoulders and firing hands, sighting through her sight again.

"Normandy for Shepard, over."

"Normandy? Come in."

"Ground troops are deploying. Forty men on the ground in five. They'll need covering fire."

Ferin glanced at Ash. "Can you handle these guys?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Ferin quickly returned to her old position, gasping every time her weight came on her right shoulder, setting up her sniper rifle again. She could see the Marines falling, using specialized wingsuit armor to glide and control their descent. While hazardous - more so than parachute insertions - the wingsuits were also far faster and allowed more control over the flight down. By the time Ferin had her rifle online, half the Marines had already sought cover and were setting up a support by fire position on the northern mountainside ; the other half were landing on the west, open side of the camp and were preparing to assault into the camp. Ferin saw one of the shooters in the camp open fire with a sniper rifle he'd picked up off the corpse of one of his buddies, and immediately sighted in and opened fire. The slaver managed to get a second shot off before her round struck him in the side, ripping through his ribcage and blowing a massive hole through the man, though it didn't quite cut him in half. He stumbled sideways a step and collapsed in the ground, dropping the sniper rifle.

"Can't hold them off, ma'am. They're getting in too close," Ashley said as she flinched back, several rounds drumming into the dirt beside her. "They've got me suppressed."

"Try and hold them off as long as you can. We've got the high ground and they don't have any cover."

"They still outnumber us by a lot," Ashley said. She winced as a round pinged off her shields and fired a shot from her Mantis. The 7.62 round struck a merc in the collarbone and he toppled backwards, rolling back down the hill. "Shit! They've got a biotic!"

"Kaidan, take care of it."

Ferin exhaled and fired another round, blowing a hole through a tent and missing its target by a hairsbreadth when he suddenly slid to a halt from his sprint to open fire on a Marine. He jerked backwards, probably thanking whatever God he believed in, before he stiffened and toppled to the ground, several holes appearing in his chest as the Marine opened fire on him. The Marines were starting to assault through. Ferin grimaced and pulled her M4 to her left shoulder, crawling back to Ashley's position to find the targets charging up the hill, only 50 meters between them and their position.

"Fuck, Ash, I thought you had them handled," Ferin commented dryly as she shot the nearest guy in the chest four times. As he toppled, a grenade landed by their position.

"Gren-"

Kaidan scooped it up and hurled it out towards the camp, the grenade detonating in midair and peppering them with shrapnel, though none of it penetrated their shields. Ferin winced, shooting another guy in the head before the enemy reached them.

"Shepard!" She heard Elanos Haliat's voice ringing through her helmet as a bulky man, almost seven feet tall, smashed into her, throwing her backwards. She gasped as she landed on her right shoulder, rolling and hissing in pain. Ignoring it, as adrenaline flooded her system, she sprang upright to see him pick up Ash by her neck and throw her downhill. Kaidan threw a warp field at him, only for it to be counteracted by a biotic barrier. Elanos punched Kaidan in the chest; the Marine managed to roll backwards away from the worst of the blow, but he staggered with the force of the blow and tripped backwards after Ash. The man was wearing a combat exoskeleton, Ferin noticed, similar to the one that she was wearing, though much less high-tech. It would augment his strength and agility, increase the force of his blows and help disperse the impact from another person's blows. Combat exoskeletons were very restricted goods - it was rare for anyone outside the military to have them, not even police generally had them. Along with gene therapy and sub-dermal implants, they could strengthen a person enough to make them able to punch through brick walls like in the old, cheesy superhero movies, or deliver kicks powerful enough to throw people several feet back. Against unarmored personnel who lacked gene therapy and implants, a single blow could stop a heart and shatter bones; against similarly equipped personnel, they were generally on equal footing, each blow dealing imparting the equivalent amount of damage as it would if neither were armored, resulting in fights that were much more violent and brutal, but with the same amount of actual tissue damage as would result from a simple fist fight.

Ferin scrambled upright as he stalked towards her, rage in his features. She reached for her pistol before remembering it had also been lost on Feros. By then, he was already upon her, swinging viciously at her. She ducked under the blow, somersaulting to the side and striking hard and low at his knee as she passed. To her surprise, he leaned away and lifted his leg out of the way of the blow, responding with a heavy kick at her stomach and a haymaker as she deflected his foot downward, using his forward momentum to launch into a vicious flurry of attacks. She recognized it as a boxing pattern and responded accordingly, using a Chinese style to avoid and redirect all the blows before she seized his arm and pulled herself over him in a forward flip, springing off the ground and bounding off his shoulder. Her knee smashed into his back and sent him staggering forward, her following close behind and hoping to seize the advantage while he was off balance.

He surprised her again, however, as he suddenly spun into a high circle kick. She immediately ducked below it, lashing out with a low sweep in the opposite direction as his kick, to find that he'd used the momentum of his kick to twist his entire body in a somersault off the ground. Her sweep hit nothing as she recovered; he'd meanwhile landed on both feet and had recovered himself. She grasped for the sword on her back but was forced to block a heavy open palm strike that managed to partially break through her block and hit her in the head with a glancing blow, knocking it sideways. She winced; she was already concussed and couldn't risk any further head trauma. He rotated on his toes and struck downwards with an elbow strike aimed at her shoulder that she dodged. While the man was bent down, trying to strike her 5'3" frame, she slammed her knee into his diaphragm and struck downwards with her own elbow at the base of his neck, striking on both fronts. He gasped, but seized her around the legs and charged forward, sending them both crashing to the ground. They rolled on top of each other several times, trying to seize the dominant position, although Ferin knew she had to break the grapple as soon as possible; she only weighed 108 pounds, and though she had strength far disproportionate to her size, she was still at a massive disadvantage. She managed to gain the upper hand and punched Haliat twice in the helmet, hard, stunning him for a moment before she rolled off of him and sprang to her feet, drawing her sword off her back in a two-handed grip. She quickly looked around her to see Ashley and Kaidan engaged in close quarters fighting with some of the other criminals, but managing to hold their own against the untrained rabble. The brief glance was all Haliat needed to charge, headbutting her and knocking the sword from her grasp. She hissed in irritation as she punched him twice in the ribs, knocking the wind out of him and sending him backwards. He retaliated with a vicious blow to her thigh. She staggered backwards, gasping at the pain shooting up and down her leg as he stepped forward and punched at her chest. She managed to redirect the hit partially, and it struck her in her shoulder instead; she immediately moved in close and negated his follow-up elbow strike at where he'd predicted her shoulder would be. As his triceps struck her in the shoulder, she seized his arm and flipped him over her body. He collapsed, sprawling on his back. She kicked hard at his helmet, but her ankle was caught by his hand and she was pulled off her feet, landing on her back in the soft dust as well.

As the two warily climbed to their feet again, he charged, launching into a turian attack routine. She was surprised by the human's knowledge of martial arts a third time, and was barely able to fend off the attack, countering the vicious combination of low kicks, sweeping strikes, and headbutts. She responded with another strike to his exposed ribs, sending him staggering sideways, but her advantage was quickly lost as his foot swept up and struck her in the solar plexus, sending her flying onto her back, gasping for breath. He stepped forward, leaning over her and grabbing her firmly between her legs and by the edge of the ceramic breastplate attached to her armor, heaving her up and lifting her above his head. With a roar, he hurled her at one of the large rocks they'd been using for cover nearby. She smashed into it heavily and fell to the ground with a cry of pain, lying face down in the dust. As she started to stagger upright, he stepped forward and kicked her hard in the side, knocking her over onto her back, grasping her side. She saw an omni-blade appear on his wrist as he knelt down beside her, pinning her in place with his knee and his left hand. He seemed to think better of it after a moment, letting the flash-forged blade dissipate after a moment.

"Death is too easy for you, Shepard. I have you here. Why not have you as a slave, a trophy, instead? The first human Spectre, Hero of the Alliance...I think with an electroshock collar and an obedience microchip. My personal assassin, personal servant."

He seized her by the throat and lifted her upright again, smashing her against the rock again. She hissed in pain, scrabbling at his arm. Unarmed combat had always been her weakest branch of combat arms; while skilled, her small stature and low weight always put her at a disadvantage against almost every opponent she faced. She could even the odds in hand-to-hand combat, where size wasn't as important as speed, strength, and skill with the weapon, but unarmed, it often came down to who could pin the other person more effectively. He growled at her, putting his helmet up against hers, grinning in his victory at her.

There was one way, however, that she could even the odds in unarmed combat. It was, in a word, biotics. She let loose with a biotic kick, slamming her foot into Haliat with enough force to lift him into the air as he reflexively released her. She fell to ground, grunting as she staggered upright, looking around for her sword. He was scrambling upright too, though she'd hit him hard enough to dent his armor over his chest. Wheezing, he started for her, swinging his fist, reverting back to his boxing style. She easily evaded the predictable attacks and swung her foot in a low kick at the side of his knee, knocking him to one knee and seizing him around the neck in the crook of her elbow. She squeezed, jerking her arm to the side, but he was able to get some leverage before she could try to snap his neck and freed himself, standing upright and furiously attacking her with a series of straight punches and low kicks. It was all she could do to fend off the attacks, until she saw an opening as his left leg planted after another low kick. She swept her foot out in a hard strike to the back of his knee, hooking it forward, and swept around him, punching him hard in the side of the head as she did. As he planted his right hand in an attempt to stabilize himself, she hooked her leg around his throat in a similar hold as she'd tried earlier, holding his neck in her knee joint with her calf pressing against the front of his throat and her thigh on the back of his neck. She fell backwards as she tried to strangle him or crush his throat, keeping her leg in place, his bulk crushing her other leg beneath it. With one hand he tried to free himself, while with the other, he tried to strike at her. Seconds passed as he was unable to extricate himself, but he was able to work his hand in between her calf and her thigh, preventing her from asphyxiating him. Realizing her attempted maneuver had failed, she swung upright and released him, stomping on his chest and flipping her position. She dropped down on him, straddling his throat and locking his neck between her thighs, squeezing as tightly as she could. He made a choked sound that she couldn't make out, and somehow managed to force himself upright into a standing position, flipping her upside-down. She refused to release her grip, however, squeezing tighter and locking her feet together, but he began delivering punches to her ribs until she was forced to release the grip, tumbling away from him.

Gasping in pain, she settled into a defensive stance when Haliat straightened suddenly, as she registered several gunshots. He staggered forward, reaching for her, then fell face-down into the dust, several bloody holes in his back. Ashley lowered her Avenger assault rifle, glancing behind her where Kaidan was busily exchanging fire with the last two or three shooters. The Special Forces operator glared at Ash, coughing. "I had it under control."

"I don't doubt it, ma'am, but I figured it'd be easier just to finish him for you."

"Thanks." Ferin winced as she stretched out her bruised ribs, limping over to where her sword had fallen and sliding it back into its sheath. Kaidan had already killed the last few shooters with his rifle and biotics, and the Marines had successfully seized the camp. All that remained to do on Agebinium was extract the probe and send it off to Admiral Hackett. Ferin, however, felt extremely dizzy. As she bent over to pick up her assault rifle, she staggered, steadying herself against a rock as she collected her remaining weapons.

"You alright, ma'am?"

"I...yeah. I just need...some rest, I think. Let's get off this rock."

"Roger, ma'am." Ashley started contacting the Normandy as Ferin sat down, resting her back against a rock. The last few missions had been exceptionally rough on her, and she'd taken a lot more abuse than she was used to. There wasn't really anything she could do about the damage she'd taken on Feros, but she could have taken Haliat. She should've been able to defeat him handily. She sighed heavily.

Back onboard the Normandy, Ferin winced in the med-bay as Doc Chakwas examined her.

"What have you done to yourself, Commander?"

"Got in a little scuffle."

"You're lucky. No broken ribs, although that's some severe bruising. Bruising across your neck, your legs, probable worsening of your concussion. Not to mention what you bloody well did to your shoulder. I'm pulling you from operational missions for a week, and...I want you to take a dose of Morcodrin every six hours for the pain. Luckily, at least, your shoulder has no permanent damage. It'll be sore for a little while, but it'll be fully functional. Which is more than I can say for your brain."

"Doc, I feel fine."

"Your wellbeing is just as important as appearing invincible to the crew, Commander. If you risk more head trauma, it will cause permanent brain damage. Medical technology can't help you if you do that."

Ferin sighed. "Fine. How are the others?"

"Hmm? Ah, yes. Captain Farid, I'm happy to say, will make a full recovery. The wound he received on Agebinium was minor, and passed straight through his body without causing any major damage. He'll be cleared for duty as soon as tomorrow."

"And Miranda?"

"Ms. Lawson's arm will be in a sling for at least another week. Her bones mended well and she's healing at a..."

Dr. Chakwas paused for a moment. Ferin raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"She's healing at a rate that's quite exceptional. More rapid than any human I've ever seen, faster even than you."

"Good for her. How long until she's cleared for operational work?"

"I'd say a week. Her arm needs the sling and her hip's damaged, but given her remarkable convalescence, she'll be ready when you are."

"Garrus and Wrex?"

"Wrex's primary nervous system is repairing itself. In the meantime, he's still in a coma, and I can't tell much more than that. I'll be able to give you a proper status report when he wakes up."

"Are you sure he'll wake up?"

"Quite sure. His redundant nervous system is completely functional, and 100% of krogan who are forced to fall back onto their redundant systems make a full recovery once their primary systems are repaired."

"Garrus?"

"He's good. His side's healed fully and he's ready for any fieldwork that you may have in mind. Although I would advise you and your team to avoid as many injuries as you've been suffering. The amount of combat injuries since you took command of the Normandy has increased by a staggering amount."

Ferin smiled slightly. "Spectre work's dangerous, doc."

"Quite. At least this visit to a business world should be relaxing. A nice hotel, the law working with us, people who aren't trying to kill us..."

Ferin chuckled. "I wouldn't be so optimistic, doc."

"Well, I believe Lieutenant Alenko was looking for you earlier, Commander. The young man seemed quite agitated."

"I wouldn't know why."

"Of course not," Dr. Chakwas said with a slight smile.

Flushing, Ferin left the med-bay, limping slightly as she made her way to the elevator up to her quarters. She smiled when she found Kaidan waiting in her quarters. It was strange how much their relationship had changed in a single night. She supposed there'd been a spark between them for a long time, and their friendship had always danced on the edge of flirtation. She hugged him as he held his arms open.

"Had me worried...again."

She smiled. "Had me worried again...ma'am?"

He laughed. "Ma'am. At least Noveria should be relaxing."

"Oh, sure. An ice planet, what's not to love?"

"Well, at least it's not covered with hostiles."

"Yeah, Dr. Chakwas said something similar. Maybe no one'll get hurt this time."

"Maybe. Anyway, I'll be by later, okay? I was planning on staying, but First Sergeant Hartman needs my help with some situation that's arisen with the Marines. And Admiral Hackett's going to want a report on the situation, anyway."

"Alright. I'll see you, Kaidan."

"Later, Em."

She smiled at his use of the little nickname that Miranda had come up with for her. "See you, Lieutenant."


	7. Chapter 7: Snowblind

"Noveria Control, this is SSV Normandy. Request permission to dock."

"SSV Normandy, this is an unscheduled visit. State your business."

Joker glanced at Ferin with a raised brow. She shrugged.

"Noveria Control, there's a Council Spectre aboard this vessel."

There was a brief pause. Finally, the radio crackled again. "SSV Normandy, you are cleared to dock. Be advised, we have a battery of anti-orbital guns tracking you. You will be required to submit to a check of credentials when you land."

"Acknowledged." He cut the radio, turning to Ferin. "Friendly people here. I think I'll schedule my next shore leave for this planet."

Ferin sighed, walking out of the cockpit and heading for the her cabin to change out of her casual hoodie and synthetic pants into a more appropriate outfit.

When Ferin stepped out into the cold of Noveria, she was surprised by just how cold the planet was. It was like a blizzard in the Himalayas, but colder. She was wearing several layers of cold weather equipment over her ACUs, but she could still feel the cold seeping into her limbs. Garrus grumbled as he stepped out after her.

"Why can't we ever go anywhere nice?"

Kaidan shrugged. "Maybe next time we go out on a mission, it'll be somewhere nice. I'd like tropical. Beaches and crystal water, palm trees and sand."

They made their way through the howling wind and the stinging snow, which felt like hail slapping against them, entering a small atrium that was thankfully shielded from the environment and kept at a comfortable temperature, although Ferin instantly started sweating in her gear. It looked like there was a full platoon of security officers in the next room. Ferin exchanged glances with Kaidan, then walked into the adjoining room to be greeted by a Japanese captain and a blonde, aggressive-looking sergeant. The Japanese woman bowed.

"Greetings. My name is Captain Maeko Matsuo. This is Sergeant Kaira Stirling. May I ask your names, honored guests?"

Ferin glanced over her shoulder at her entourage. The entire squad had accompanied her, minus Wrex, who was still recovering, though he'd woken up from his coma. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Ferin Shepard. I'm here on Council business."

"Ah, you must be the Spectre we received word about."

The sergeant - Stirling? - frowned, shaking her head. Ferin noted that she had one hand on her pistol the entire time. "I don't believe a word of it," she said. She was American - Midwest - by the sound of it. "Everyone knows there are no human Spectres."

"Please, Sergeant Stirling," Captain Matsuo said in a quelling tone. She returned her steady gaze to Ferin. Ferin noted approvingly she had the composure of a warrior, the posture and eyes of a warrior. "Shepard-san, I must ask that while you wait for authorization and a background check, you must surrender your weapons and proceed to a holding area."

Ferin's hand fell to the Legion at her side instinctively. She had a feeling that everyone in her squad reached for their weapons as well, from the way that the expressions of all the police officers hardened. "That's not going to happen."

Stirling raised her pistol. "Not a good answer, pal." She spoke with extreme sarcasm. Her entire demeanor seemed wrong to Ferin, although she wasn't sure what was causing her to be so hostile. The police officer continued speaking. "We'll exterminate you and your little band of friends if you don't hand over your weapons, now."

Ferin narrowed her eyes, drawing her pistol and pointing it in a stable, two-handed shooting stance at Stirling. Around them, she could hear her squad locking and loading their weapons while the security officers did the same, everyone raising their weapons.

"Shepard-san, it is standard procedure for everyone. No weapons are authorized on Noveria, you must understand. We will not allow anyone to disrupt the peace."

"Standard procedure for me is to keep my weapons. I'm well within my authority to keep them on me."

Stirling's face hardened. "Last chance. If you don't back down, we'll ventilate you and leave your corpses in the canyons."

"Stand down! Captain Matsuo, tell your men to stand down! The check just came through, and Spectres are authorized weapons on Noveria!" An unfamiliar female voice came over the intercom. Captain Matsuo immediately lowered her weapon.

"Stand down."

The security officers all lowered their weapons, although some did with some obvious hesitation - or was it disappointment? Ferin saw disappointment in Sergeant Stirling's expression as clearly as day. Captain Matsuo bowed.

"Welcome to Noveria, Shepard-san. Let us hope that the rest of your visit here will be less confrontational."

"Let us hope that the rest of my visit here will be with cooperation from your forces," Ferin retorted. She walked past the Captain, followed by her squad as she strode up the steps leading into the actual containment unit for Port Noveria. A dark-skinned woman, about Kaidan's height and wearing a sleeveless dress, was standing there, evidently waiting for her.

"Good evening, Colonel Shepard," the woman said. Ferin nodded in response, looking at the woman inquisitively. "My name is Gianna Parasini. I'm the assistant to the administrator of Noveria, Anoleis."

"Good evening, Ms. Parasini."

"If you'll follow me, I'll show you and your friends to some quarters that we have set aside in the hotel for you. Please ignore the alarms. We do not normally allow weapons on Noveria, but we make exceptions for Spectres."

"Do you often receive Spectres on Noveria?" Ferin asked as she fell in step behind the woman.

"No, guests from the Council are such a rare honor. However, I must ask you to be mindful of our other guests on Noveria. Often businessmen and corporations visit Noveria seeking privacy. The presence of a Spectre here will no doubt put many on their guard."

"Do they have something to be afraid of me finding out about?"

"I couldn't say."

Ferin smiled slightly. "Don't worry, I'm not here to cause trouble for you, your investors, or your clients."

Parasini nodded. "Anoleis will be very happy to hear that, I am sure. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, I'm looking for an asari matriarch who has apparently had an interest in Noveria lately. Matriarch Benezia?"

"We have not had any matriarchs visit us in the last six galactic months. I'm sorry. I can check the logs to see what asari have passed through, if you'd like."

"That's alright. What about upcoming visits?"

"That may be so. I'll have to check the logs. For now, please, enjoy these accommodations. No charge, of course, for Spectres."

"Thank you."

"Oh, by the way, the southeastern building is currently closed. While as a Spectre, we would allow you into the building, I'm afraid none of your companions could accompany you in."

"Why is it closed?"

"There was a murder a few days ago. We're not sure what happened yet, but one of our clients was killed. We're still investigating how the drell in question managed to smuggle a gun in, or how he managed to break through both our security and the man's personal bodyguard detail."

"You have the suspect in custody?"

"Unfortunately not. He managed to stowaway on a shuttle and disappeared before we could apprehend him. But don't be alarmed. We've doubled security and are conducting random weapons checks to ensure the safety of everyone on Noveria."

"Thanks."

The woman smiled and left, leaving the group in a large, luxurious suite, with massive windows and what appeared to be expensive luxuries lying around everywhere. Caviar from Earth, asari wines - eezo and all - as well as krogan spirits, human wines, and turian drinks, chocolates from Eden Prime, Elysium china, Berkenstein electronics, furniture made with wood from Horizon...it was a suite for people with far more money than Ferin. And far less security concerns. The veteran soldier's first note was the large windows. Although she assumed they were made from reinforced, plate ianiglass, she wasn't comfortable with the exposure. A sniper could easily fire in with the right weapon, even if they were on the 88th floor.

Ashley had already sat down on the couch with Garrus and Tali. Her hands behind her head, she glanced at Ferin. She seemed cheerful. Or acting cheerful, Ferin thought. "So, skipper, what's our next move?"

Ferin shrugged, sitting down in an armchair. She glanced over at Miranda, who was staring musingly out the window at the blizzard roaring silently around the soundproofed suite, rubbing her chin with her good hand.

"We wait and see if Benezia is coming. What do you think, Liara?"

"I still do not believe that my mother would be involved in bringing back the monsters that destroyed the Protheans. How could she be? Benezia loves life, in all its forms. She would not try to destroy it."

"I guess we'll find out when she gets here. If she doesn't come, we'll have to see if we can find another lead. Otherwise...it's some downtime. Relax while you got it. At least the NDC is treating us well."

"Yeah, there is that," Garrus said. "I could get used to staying in places like this. Although, as usual, they don't have much for dextro-aminos. One day."

Tali laughed. "Keep dreaming, Garrus."

Kaidan, who'd wandered into the back of the suite, came back, shaking his head in amazement. "I can never believe how the upper upper class lives," he said. "Our suite's three floors. Three floors!"

"Yeah? What've we got?" Ferin asked.

"There's a pool, a full exercise room, a kitchen and a dining room, even a small reading room. Eight bedrooms, double beds, televisions in all of them, computers in all of them...it's ridiculous."

She laughed. "NDC's treating us real good. Well, you guys are free to wander around as much as you want. It's a luxury hotel, even if we're on a frozen hellhole. Just make sure you keep your pistols close and your IDs just as close."

"Understood. What're you going to do, Em?" Miranda turned away from the window, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

"I dunno yet. I think I might lie down and watch some television," Ferin said with a shrug. "I haven't watched Bekenstein Babes in a while."

"You're kidding. You watch that crap?"

Ferin laughed. "You don't?"

Miranda raised an eyebrow.

Ferin smiled, shaking her head. "Guilty pleasures. I heard a new episode came out last night. They finally reveal who Kastor's been seeing all this time."

"I don't watch the show, but knowing those celebrities I'll bet it was-"

Ashley stood, shaking her head as she glanced over at Kaidan. "Officers. Uh, no offense, sir. You want to go down to the bar?"

Kaidan laughed. "Yeah. If I stay, I might get roped into watching Bek Babes."

"I'll come with," Garrus said. "Been itching to get myself a proper drink these last couple weeks."

"Fair enough. Liara? Tali?"

Liara shrugged. "I would like to see what this Bekenstein Babes television show is about."

Ashley started laughing. "You'll regret it. Trust me, my sister Sarah made me watch it once. I had to bleach my brain."

"Isn't sodium hypochlorite lethal to humans?"

"It's a figure of speech. Never mind. Tali?"

"Sure, why not. Maybe I can find something for my Pilgrimage while I'm down there."

The four left the suite, chatting, leaving Liara, Ferin, and Miranda sitting there.

"If we're going to watch something, you know what it should be?"

"What's that, Mira?"

"A Tuchankan Krogan in Sur'Kesh."

"I haven't seen that in a while. Yeah, sure."

Liara looked puzzled. Miranda glanced over at her, then explained the premise. "It's a movie about a krogan from today's galaxy who ends up on Sur'Kesh before the Rachni Wars. Knowing what happens with the Rachni and the genophage, he attempts to work to prevent the genophage."

"The movie title sounded familiar."

"It's actually a very philosophical film, if rather fatalistic."

Ferin walked over to one of the bedrooms, followed by the animated pair as they hopped on one of the beds and turned on the TV.

* * *

Ferin woke up, grey, dim light filtering through the window into the room. Snow was still falling thick and fast, and for a moment she wondered where she was. The bed was indescribably soft and comfortable - a far cry from her usual accommodations. The veteran operator sighed, unwilling to clamber out of bed, but eventually managing to climb out of the soft mound of blankets, trying not to wake up Miranda or Liara, who'd both fallen asleep while they'd been watching Shanxi, a war movie about the First Contact War. Ferin groaned as she headed into the bathroom to take care of hygiene and bladder issues, emerging a half hour later to find Miranda and Liara had both left. She changed into some comfortable PT clothes and headed out the door, heading to the exercise room that Kaidan had mentioned.

It was luxurious, far better than the facilities on the Normandy. The Normandy had a 400 meter indoor track around the exterior, and included pull-up bars, free weights, benches, squat stations, sandbags, and a small basketball court and soccer field, as well as some improvised stations set up for the non-human crew members - a strange station that involved twisting weights in a curving motion was one, that looked like it would snap a human's shoulders if they tried it, but apparently worked some turian muscles that humans didn't have. The facility in the hotel had a similar selection of equipment. There were leg machines, upper body machines, pull up bars, ropes, rings, free weights, treadmills, but all of them looked brand new and were in good condition. Ferin started on a full workout, and was in the middle of her 4 mile warm up jog when Ashley walked in.

"Morning, ma'am."

"What's up, Ash?"

"Not much." She was wearing a plain T-shirt that read ARMY on the front and a pair of shorts with SSV Normandy and the Alliance logo emblazoned on them. She hopped on a treadmill next to Ferin. "How're you doing, ma'am?"

"Alright. Just staying in shape."

Ash smiled. The two women ran beside each other for a while in silence. Ferin broke the silence as she finished her fourth mile in twenty-four minutes and hopped off the treadmill. "How're your arms doing, Ash?"

"Pretty good. Doc Chakwas said that the bones healed properly. They still ache occasionally and there's some scarring, but no problems."

"Uh huh. You still talking to Doc Mitchell?"

"Yes ma'am."

"And?"

"He's...interesting. I was kind of expecting a..."

"Regular POG counselor?"

"Yes ma'am."

Ferin grinned. Dr. Mitchell was their primary psychiatrist and resident counselor, along with a team of about a dozen other psychiatrists, but he was unique in that he had been a combat medic before he'd become a psychiatrist. While he'd never qualified Special Forces himself, he'd spent time in the field with N6 teams and had a lot of experience in combat, making him the best psychiatrist for most of the combat troops on the Normandy.

"So what's going on?"

"He didn't tell you?"

"Doctor-patient confidentiality. You don't have to tell me, just wanna check up on you."

"I don't know. He's talking me through some of what happened back on Eden Prime. Acute stress disorder, I think he called it. Apparently a side effect is panic attacks, disorientation, and all that jazz."

"Sounds like PTSD."

"He said they're related. He wants to try and put me through a program where I'll be like...playing video games or something, against geth and husks. I don't know the specifics, but he says it'll help."

"I'm sure it will."

Ashley hesitated. "Ma'am...you're not...I mean, what do you think about all this? Mental weakness?"

Ferin pulled herself up on the pull-up bar with a grunt of exertion. "I don't think it's mental weakness. I think we already had this talk, though."

"Yes ma'am, but..."

"But?"

"I just don't want you to sideline me again because I let a little thing like Eden Prime screw me up like this."

Ferin sighed as she dropped, her arms worked to temporary exhaustion. "Ash, I trust you. You freaked out on Feros on the first real combat mission you'd been on since Eden Prime, with a commander who we both know you don't like too much, and before we realized you had unresolved wounds. We're taking steps to handle that now."

"Yes ma'am."

"But while we're on the topic...I think I tried to ask you about it back when we first met, but I actually had questions about your record. You've got top marks in everything you've done in training, but no combat assignments, no assignments to zero-g, just garrison duties and rear echelon duties."

Ashley hesitated. "Yes, ma'am."

"Why is that? There's nothing in your record that states that you don't deserve to have a proper assignment."

Ashley frowned. "That's...surprising."

"What is?"

"I just thought you'd have it in the file since you took over the Normandy...never mind, ma'am."

Ferin gave her a puzzled look as she jumped back up onto the pull-up bars.

"It's...well, I'm...you know what happened on Shanxi back during the 1C, right?"

"Yeah."

"General Williams...the only man to ever surrender to an alien race or lose a human world to an alien race...was my grandfather. It's why my dad never made it past Corporal and it's why I haven't ever gotten any good assignments. The whole Williams name is blacklisted in the Systems Alliance."

Ferin stayed silent except for her quick exhalations as she continued performing pull ups. Ashley chuckled to herself a little.

"It kind of says something about the Williams spirit that we keep trying in a military that doesn't want us, if you think about it. But still...ending up on the Normandy is probably the biggest stroke of luck that could have happened to me, if it had happened any other way."

Ferin nodded. "You're a good soldier, Ash. I'm glad you're on the Normandy."

"Really? Huh."

Ferin cocked her head, pausing. "What?"

"Nothing, ma'am. It's just that every other commander I've ever had who found out about that tried to pawn me off as soon as possible."

Ferin laughed. "It's a poor officer who throws away talent because of names."

Ash smiled. "Hey, ma'am. You know what day it is back on Earth?"

"Um...no."

"It's Armistice Day."

"Ah, right. I forgot."

"Can't blame you. You've had a lot to think of. It's kind of a tradition in the Williams family though, for us to celebrate it. We normally just have a drink or something about think about it."

"Y'all sound like a pretty military family."

"Oh, yeah. My father was in the Army, my mother was in the Navy - it's how they met - and growing up we were all military brats. Granddad, my uncle, great-granddad, all of them were in the Army."

"Your sister's military too?"

She laughed. "No. Honestly, when I was little, I used to say I would never be a soldier either. But...I guess it just happens. But Abby and Lynn would never join the military, although Abby managed to settle down with another Alliance soldier, over on Amaterasu. Sarah...maybe, although I'd be surprised. She's still in high school right now, but who knows? She's got fight in her."

"I'd think all your sisters have fight in them."

"Well, yeah. But Sarah's the most spirited. Best at fighting, too. I've got her beat with a gun, but I remember the first time I saw her use some of the combatives dad taught us."

"What happened?"

She laughed as she recalled the memory. "The guy took a swing, and she just disappeared. It was like one moment she was there, the next she just floated around him. I could've blocked it, but she did it so gracefully it was like she was dancing. Next thing you know, the guy's on the ground, bleeding."

"Why'd he try to hit her?"

"Oh that was a long story. They'd been dating for a while, and...well, you know how teenage guys are."

Ferin laughed. "Very well."

"Well, they went for a romantic walk in the woods, and he decided that was the day that they should advance their relationship. Only, Sarah didn't want to. He tried to press the issue and she broke his nose."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. I was so pissed. I immediately got a three-day pass and headed out to Amaterasu, even though Sarah kept telling me that it was fine. Walked her to school and back."

"She must not have been a fan of that if she's anything like you."

Ashley shook her head, chuckling as she slowed to a halt and stepped off the treadmill, wiping some of the sweat off her face with her shirt.

"Well, on the way home, we run into Jake. All the guys in school were giving him shit about getting his ass handed to him by a girl and blah blah blah. I would've just socked him in the jaw right there, but Sarah gave me a look. I guess I realized it was her issue. Anyway, he gets mad at her, she stays firm, and then he just starts yelling and takes a swing. Next thing he knows, he's on the ground, bleeding again, and he just starts crying and saying he's sorry and how much he cares about Sarah."

Ashley shook her head, a proud smile on her face. "She just sat down with him and put her arm around him. Comforted him, repaired everything, stayed with him til the ambulance got there. But she never yielded."

"Strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

"Yeah. I wish Dad had been there to see that..."

Ashley trailed off, a sad expression on her face. "You sound like you cared about your dad a lot," Ferin said.

"Yeah. He was a good man, a good soldier. Proud. Loyal. Everything I am I am because of him." She looked at Ferin. "Not to pry, ma'am, but what was your dad like?"

Ferin hesitated. "I never knew my parents. I grew up in an orphanage and on the streets of a city on Earth."

"Oh. I'm sorry, ma'am."

Ferin shrugged.

"Wait, you know Ulysses?"

Ferin laughed. "Of course. Tennyson's one of my favorite poets. You know Tennyson?"

"Yeah."

"That's surprising."

"Why? Just because I can drill you between the eyes at four hundred meters doesn't mean I can't be into mushy stuff."

Ferin held up her hands. "That's not what I meant. I can do that too. You just never struck me as a poetry type."

Ashley smiled. "It was something that my father rubbed off on me. Ulysses was his favorite poem. He always kept a copy of it with him. His favorite line was... 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite the sounding furrows; for my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset, and the baths of all the western stars."

"Why was that line his favorite?"

"He loved space, he loved traveling. He loved leaving on those ships and he loved seeing the galaxy."

Ferin smiled. "It is breathtaking. Exhausting, but breathtaking."

"Dad got his wish...he got to see the stars and sail off past the sunset before he passed. He saw me make sergeant, too. He was so proud of me. First thing he did was go to parade rest."

"Sounds like he was a hell of a father. Especially if he raised you to be who you are."

"Yeah," Ash said with a smile.

The two chatted for another couple hours as they worked in the gym. Ferin got the sense that Ash was well on the road to recovery, and left it at that. Kaidan entered the room as they were leaving, clad in his own workout attire. From there, the day passed in a blur as Ferin took a shower, headed out and met Parasini to find that Matriarch Benezia was expected to visit in the next three weeks, but a concrete date hadn't been set yet.

She settled into a steady routine over the next two weeks, working out and swimming to stay in shape each morning, showering, eating breakfast, and then giving the inexperienced members of the squad - mostly Tali and Liara - training in tactics and cold weather survival for a few hours. Eventually, she headed out, spending the rest of the day wandering around the hotel, the shops, the spaceport, and the business offices. She returned to the suite in the evening and had dinner, before going to bed with Kaidan. During her day, she'd explored the facilities and look at potential ambush locations - all of which were rejected as too loud and high-profile - potential destinations for Benezia, and the various back routes around. Because they weren't sure when Benezia would arrive, they'd set up shifts to monitor the spaceport, and two squad members were at the spaceport at all times, along with some Marines in civilian clothing. Wrex recovered and joined them in their suite, only slightly the worse for wear. With the downtime, Ferin had time to really start to talk to the squad about their lives. It was odd, how little she knew some of them. That she hadn't known that Tali's father was a quarian Admiral, and that she was expected to bring back some kind of monumental offering for her Pilgrimage because of it. That Liara's "father" had disappeared before she'd ever known her, and both her parents were asari. Or that Wrex's father had tried to kill him on Tuchanka, prompting his flight from the planet and eventual descent into life as an apathetic mercenary. Kaidan's relationship with Rahna, a girl who'd been at BAaT with him., and how he'd killed their extremely harsh instructor, Commander Vyrnnus.

It was strange, she supposed, because she trusted all of them implicitly. They'd all proven their loyalty. But she barely knew anything about their pasts, she only knew their current personalities, their current problems. It was almost funny in a tragic way how many of them were damaged. Mira - she wasn't sure what Miranda's trauma was, but she could sense it, even if the woman hid it well. Wrex was fatalistic in the extreme, to the point that he was completely apathetic about anything he did. It seemed that he was just drifting through life, completely assured that he lacked to power to do anything for his race - and oddly, especially for a krogan, he showed a lack of interest in his own lot in life. Kaidan held himself almost painfully emotionally aloof. He only really showed his emotions around Ferin, and the introverted man mostly hid himself around the others, although he rarely let his guard down around Ash - something which left a twinge of jealousy in Ferin, although she refused to admit it. Ashley was brash and aggressive, but she had a good heart - Eden Prime had shocked her in the extreme, and left her with her share of scars. And Ferin had her own share of scars. It seemed Garrus, Tali, and Liara were the only of their merry band of misfits who lacked any real trauma. Garrus had had chances for trauma, but war hadn't affected him, probably because of turian culture and thought processes. And Tali and Liara were just too young to have really seen any trauma - Tali was just a teenager among her people, and while she had lost her mother at a young age, it hadn't seemed to damage her - and Liara was equivalent to a human in her mid-twenties. Liara'd never been a soldier or anything other than a student, either.

They'd been on the planet for 19 days when Ferin was roused from sleep by an incessant beeping from her omni-tool. She sat up blearily, trying not to wake Kaidan as she slipped out of bed and brought up the message.

"Benezia sighted en route to garage. Intercepting with QRF."

_Shit. She's here._ Ferin flipped the lights in her bedroom on, Kaidan uttering a half-garbled protest.

"Up, Kaidan, get up!" When he didn't move, she hardened her voice while she pulled her armor's underweave on. "On your feet, lieutenant!"

The Marine bolted upright, looking over at her. "What...what's going on, Em?"

"Garrus has eyes on. Him and Ashley are moving to intercept Benezia, the Marines are moving with them. She's on her way to the garage."

He cursed as he rolled out of the bed, looking around for his own armor. Ferin was snapping her combat belt around her waist and her kneepads and ceramic plates onto her thighs as he ran out of the room and headed for his own room. As she started pulling her underweave onto her torso, she sent out a ping to all of the squad members in the suite, her voice muffled by the synthetic weave she was pulling over her head. It was less than two minutes before the ceramic plates were attached and the armor's seals had joined together, forming a full synthetic hardsuit. She grabbed her pistol from beneath her pillow and rushed out the door to find Miranda standing by the exit, her arm freshly liberated from its sling, in her signature skin-tight outfit. Ferin would never understood how she was able to fight so effectively in that armor - it seemed too tight, like it would restrict movement - but she moved smoothly and had full range of motion, and Ferin wasn't complaining that she liked wearing it. Aside from the...aesthetic value of the outfit and the morale boost it provided, a lot of men had a tendency to get distracted by Miranda when they were talking. Put them off-balance, let them lower their guard a little. Liara stood beside her, his face marred by a frown as she slipped a thermal clip into the grip of her pistol and cocked the weapon.

"Where's Wrex? Tali?"

"Don't know. You ready to move, Colonel?"

"Hang on, Kaidan-"

"I'm good to go, ma'am," he said, emerging from the hallway suited up save for his helmet, and cradling an assault rifle in his arms.

"Let's go."

The small group jogged out of the room. At the late hour, there were few people awake, mostly salarians, all of whom let out yelps of surprise and dove for cover as the armed warriors rushed past them. The few security forces that they passed, at least, were familiar with them and didn't attempt to stop them or apprehend them. Though they moved with speed, it was still almost ten minutes before they reached Garrus and Ashley's position. Ashley was sitting with her back resting against the wall - Ferin's immediate response was alarm, thinking she'd been wounded - while Garrus was arguing with a security officer.

"Let us in the garage right now! Spectre authority!"

"Look, mate, I ain't allowed to let nobody in what doesn't have the proper identification. You don't got a pass, you ain't getting in."

"The woman in there is a wanted criminal!"

The bored-looking guard glanced over at Ferin as she arrived.

"This guy one of yours? Try and calm his ass down before I have to smack him."

"Garrus, stand down."

The turian furiously turned towards her. "You're going to let this goddamned regulations-hugger stop us?"

"I didn't say that. Stand down."

"Ugh!" The turian turned away, throwing his arms in the air and walking a few feet away. She sighed, turning to Ash.

"Ash, you okay?"

The woman nodded, although her words seemed to come with effort. "No injuries, ma'am."

Ferin cocked her head, hesitating, but turned back to the guard. Priorities.

"Let us through, officer."

"I can't and I ain't gonna. Take it up with the sergeant of the watch if you're gonna bitch about it."

Ferin took a deep breath. "My mission - given to me by the Council - is to hunt any associates of a very dangerous man. She is one of them. Let me through, or I swear I will have you fired and made unemployable anywhere in the galaxy."

"Council don't have authority here. Sergeant Stirling's orders are that no one is allowed into the garage without a pass. End of story."

Miranda spoke up, her voice surprisingly hard. "Commander, why don't we just kill him?" As she spoke, she raised her pistol, pointing it at the guard's head and flipping the safety off. Although surprised, Ferin played along.

"Go ahead, Miranda. Less-"

The guard raised his hands, paling. "I don't even have a passcard to get into the garage! I just got this job last bloody week!"

Ferin sighed. Miranda scowled, lowering the pistol, flipping the safety on, and slipping the weapon back into her thigh holster.

"Wonderful."

"Where's Wrex when you need dynamic entrances?" Ferin said with frustration.

"Probably wouldn't do any good. These walls look pretty thick. He'd probably just bruise his head trying to smash through."

She turned back to the security guard, who'd regained some of his color. "Who do I talk to to get in?"

"Only Administrator Anoleis can let people in."

"Ugh. Let's go find him. Garrus, Ash, Kaidan, Liara, stay here in case Benezia comes back out. Capture, not kill. Garrus, you're in charge."

"Confirmed."

"Let's go, Mira."

They turned and quickly headed down the hallway, jogging through a large, wide-open atrium plate of reinforced ferroglass and heading for Anoleis' offices. As they moved, Ferin glanced over at Miranda.

"You remember any of the gun safety you were taught?"

"Of course. Why?"

"Never point your weapon at anything you're not ready to kill?"

"I never do."

Ferin dropped it, although she was a little disquieted by the apparent ease with which Miranda was ready to murder a random innocent. An idiotic innocent, but an innocent nonetheless. When they arrived at Anoleis' office, Miranda pressed the holographic interface, but the door didn't open, the hologram flashing red instead.

"Bugger! He probably doesn't start work until the start of business hours."

"Five hours from now...fuck."

Ferin looked around. "Hack it, Mira. Maybe we can find a garage pass in his office."

"Right. Keep a lookout for any security." She knelt down in front of the door, typing on her omni-tool as Ferin looked around uncomfortably, her M4 at the ready. There were more than a few businessmen who were regarding them with no small amount of suspicion. One turian approached, his voice indignant.

"Who gave you the right to break into the Administrator's office? I'm calling security."

Ferin held her hand out, signaling for him to halt. "Council business. Move along."

"No. You humans all think you run this place? There are rules! Regulations! Laws! I'm calling security and having you both arrested."

She shoved the turian hard in the chest, knocking him backwards several paces, and raised her rifle.

"Move along."

The turian began to protest, but when he saw the rifle leveled at him, turned and quickly left, muttering. Ferin glanced over at Miranda.

"Security's probably coming. Whenever you're ready, Mira."

"Yeah, yeah. Here we go." Miranda opened the door and stepped through, raising her pistol as she glanced around. Ferin quickly followed her. The room was dark, empty, just a few lounge chairs around glass tables for visitors, and a large receptionist's desk. They quickly crossed the room, looking around for alarms, and came upon another door, this one to the Administrator's room. For several minutes, they searched the unlocked room, but were unable to locate any passcards. Ferin sighed, turning back to Miranda. "Well, maybe we can-"

"Why didn't we just hack the garage door?"

Ferin stopped. _Wow, that was really goddamn idiotic of me._

"Didn't think of that. Well, shit. I guess we should-"

"Halt!"

Ferin sighed. "Can I finish a sentence?"

The abrasive sergeant from before, Stirling or something like that, stepped into the room, a police shotgun in her hands. Several police officers followed her, wearing old military-style body armor made from synthetic weave and Kevlar, and carrying Avenger assault rifles. Ferin looked over her shoulder and sighed with exasperation.

"We don't have time for this shit."

"We probably shouldn't just kill them," Miranda commented. "Don't want to have to leave without catching Benezia."

Stirling, who'd been listening, reddened with fury. Ferin thought idly that the woman must have had Scandinavian blood in her as the woman stalked over.

"You're under arrest. Drop your weapons and put your hands on your head."

"We've been over this before, Stirling. Spectres can carry weapons."

"Not in custody, they can't. Last chance, give them up."

Ferin sighed, then knocked the barrel of the woman's shotgun sideways with a gloved hand. The weapon discharged harmlessly into a wall, before she gripped the barrel in a tight fist and bent it sharply upwards, the barrel yielding to her uncanny strength. As Stirling started to let go of the weapon, Ferin punched the woman in her solar plexus, before seizing her around the neck with her free arm and flipping her backwards. Stirling landed on her face, breaking her nose, the wind knocked out of her, as Ferin tossed the useless shotgun to the ground. She glanced at the security forces, but Stirling, coughing, shouted, "Kill them!"

Ferin and Miranda both dropped to the ground with the finely honed reflexes that only soldiers possessed, rolling behind the Administrator's desk for cover. Miranda leaned out and fired several bullets at some of the officers, who dove for cover themselves, though not before one of her bullets punctured one officer's shields and punched through his knee. He subsided behind a potted fern, screaming in pain. Miranda ducked back behind the desk, glancing over at Ferin.

"Why is it that we can't do anything without there eventually being gunfire?"

"Dunno. Blame God."

"I think I'd rather blame you."

Ferin shrugged, leaning out and spraying a few suppressive rounds. She didn't really want to kill any of the police officers. They were just doing their jobs. But on the other hand, they were blocking the only exit and trying to kill them. Miranda, on the other hand, seemed to have no such compunction. She'd already shot to kill, and Ferin could tell she was preparing to lean out and score at least one headshot when she did. As Miranda exhaled, Ferin grabbed her by the arm, preventing her from moving.

"What-"

"I don't want any of them dead. Priority's Benezia, and we can't get her if we have to flee the system."

"So how are we getting out of here?"

"I haven't figured that part out ye-"

"Cease fire!" The voice of a familiar female sounded over the gunfire. _Parasini_.

"Colonel Shepard, please step out with your accomplice."

Miranda raised an eyebrow. "I have a name."

"Yes, yes. Officers, please leave us."

The officers glanced at each other, hesitating - Stirling in particular looked furious - but none wanted to disobey Parasini, it seemed. They filed out of the room after a few moments, leaving Ferin to wonder what kind of power Parasini possessed, if as a lowly secretary she commanded so much influence over the security.

"Shepard. It's fine."

Ferin stepped out, her pistol leveled at Parasini. After a moment, she lowered the weapon, glancing around the room. There were bullet holes and burn marks all over the walls, and the Adminstrator's formerly fine desk was on its last legs.

"Sorry about that."

Parasini smiled slightly and shrugged. "Not a big problem. But this little incident puts us in an uncomfortable position."

"How's that?"

"Well, the NDC of course does not wish to anger the Council. However, even Spectres are not above the rules on Noveria, and by rights, we should expel you from the planet, at the very least."

"So?"

"So...I think I have a way that we could sidestep all that unpleasantness. But I would need a favor from you."

Miranda sighed audibly. Ferin glanced sidelong at her. "What's that?"

"Look, I know you're hunting Benezia. I know where she went and I can get you access to the garage. I can also prevent you from being expelled from the planet or arrested for this little incident."

"And?"

"You'll need to do something for me. I...we shouldn't talk about it here. Listen, meet me in your hotel room in the morning, alright? I need to grease some wheels."

Ferin sighed. "So we're basically agreeing without knowing the conditions."

"If you want to catch Benezia, sure."

She exchanged glances with Miranda, who made a little _why not?_ gesture with her shoulders. Ferin returned her gaze to Parasini. "Alright. We'll see you then."

Ferin looked over at Miranda and gestured out the door with a little head motion. The two left the room brushing shoulders with the glowering Sergeant Stirling, who was clutching her nose, and the still-hostile security SWAT team. Miranda commented idly as they walked past, "Sorry about that, boys. Better luck next time." It wasn't long before they'd gathered the rest of the team - Wrex and Tali had arrived, although too drunk to actually have been of any use, and were summarily hauled back to the suite to sleep it off. Miranda and Ashley were left behind at the spaceport to keep watch along with a squad of Marines who had been hauled off the Normandy, and the rest went back to sleep.

Ferin arose at 0600, as per her normal routine, although she felt somewhat irascible given the previous night's events and her lack of sleep. She rubbed her eyes and rolled out of bed carefully, trying not to wake Kaidan. After a moment's consideration, she decided to forego her usual exercise routine and instead took a shower and handled her personal hygiene. She pulled a plain blue tank top on, along with a pair of ACU trousers carelessly unbloused over her combat boots, and wandered into the kitchen to find herself some breakfast. Ashley was already in the room; the woman was still wearing the t-shirt and shorts she'd slept in as she munched on some breakfast cereal.

"Morning, ma'am."

"Morning, Ash. Anything going on?"

"Nada. Just eating before I go back to bed."

Ferin smiled slightly. "Feeling lazy today?"

"Just tired." There was something odd about Ash. Ferin thought she could smell...

"Ash, have you been drinking?"

"N-well, just a little."

Ferin frowned. "Were you drinking last night?"

"Like I said, just a little."

"Ash, you were on duty last night."

"I know. I was with Garrus, too, though."

Ferin rubbed her head. "Is this the first time you've drunk while on duty?"

"I-no, ma'am."

Ferin sighed. "We'll talk about this later, Sergeant. Go get some sleep."

"I-aye aye, ma'am."

The sergeant stood and walked out of the kitchen. She didn't seem wobbly, but Ferin was still concerned. They'd have to have a talk about it later. Probably when Ashley was in a better state of mind, anyway. Ferin sighed as she sat down with a bagel, some eggs, and some coffee, listening to the television playing in the background. The reporter was discussing the manhunt for that drell Matsuo had mentioned, the one who was suspected of murdering some big shot capitalist. There was some galactic news about Omega - some kind of coup with a shadowy asari taking over - and then it changed to something about Akuze. Ferin felt the name hit her like a bag of bricks, losing her breath as she stopped eating and looked at the TV. A monument to the colonists...the soldiers who'd died defending them. Ferin swallowed thickly. It was being dedicated by Admiral Hackett...he expressed sorrow that the sole survivor of Akuze was currently on assignment elsewhere and could not attend. The reporter started talking about the events on Akuze, the famous Spectre, Shepard, and the N7 team and Marine battalion lost on the planet. And then - she didn't understand why they'd do it, but they did - they started playing weapon and helmet camera recordings from Akuze. Her helmet cam...

She felt the melancholy that she'd been accustomed to over the years until recently, on the hunt for Saren, settle over her again. She'd completely forgotten about the Akuze memorial, with everything going on at that moment. She sat back, remembering the adrenaline, the uncertainty, the details, every moment that she'd spent on that godforsaken planet as she watched it on the broadcast. They'd scouted the colonist town to find it completely abandoned, with no signs of battle or struggle. They were on their way back to the landing zone to be picked up by the SSV Houston when, suddenly...

_"Oh God! Fall back, fall back!" Her voice came hoarsely as a thresher maw exploded out of the ground, spitting acid at Bravo Team's truck. She heard a scream, the truck rolled to a halt as its engine block was disintegrated. A moment later, one of the doors door was kicked open. Master Sergeant Zheng Liu rolled out of the passenger side door, his sniper rifle already raised, firing at the thresher maw as Staff Sergeant Malala Khalil stumbled out of her door, carrying Staff Sergeant Francis Berard's corpse in a fireman's carry. He'd been hit by the acid while sitting in the gunner's seat...There was Sergeant First Class Samantha Han, firing bursts from her assault rifle as she covered Mal and Francis. Ferin glanced behind her to see Master Sergeant Dmitri Ilyich Kovalenko triggering rounds from the turret, an automatic grenade launcher. The thresher maw shrieked, took shelter back in the ground as Charlie Team's truck ground to a halt behind their truck. Zheng and Sam leapt into their truck, while Mal dropped Francis in the back of Charlie Team's truck and jumped in. Ferin smacked the driver, Staff Sergeant Ryan Wu, on his shoulder, shouting._

_"Go, go, go!" It was too late, the thresher maw was back, in front of them. But wait...another was appearing to their left. Another two, on their left! "Reverse, reverse!" Charlie Team's truck flipped as a maw came up under it, tossing it thirty meters into the air before it came down and rolled. "Shit!" Sergeant Thomas Jones suddenly started screaming as a little spray of acid splashed against his helmet, melting through it and burning his skin. Sam grabbed Thomas, spraying a weak basic solution, trying to neutralize and weaken the acid. He was already blind, though...Alpha Team's truck was down. Ferin was screaming into the radio, trying to get fire support from the warship in orbit, but they weren't responding._

_"Charlie Team, this is Shepard!"_

_"Captain!" It was Sergeant-Major Mohammed Mbarri, her second-in-command._

_"Oh, God, Mohammed, you okay?"_

_"Barely! I think the maws still know we're alive, though! Ryan's legs are both broken, Ieyasu's dragging him out and Mal's pulling Francis' body out!"_

_"We're coming to you dismounted!"_

_"Roger that, make it fast!" Dima slid out of the gunner's seat as the six started running in a haphazard wedge towards Charlie Team's truck, most of them shooting, Sam guiding Thomas, who was blind from the acid. A maw came up right in their midst...Ferin was sent flying, landing beside Zheng and Dima. She looked around...Sam was alone now, screaming in defiance. Ryan was a few dozen meters away from her. Thomas was nowhere to be seen. "Captain, Thomas is dead! The maw fucking ate him!" Sam's pain-stricken voice came over the net. Ferin felt her heart stop for a moment, a pang of horrible pain hitting her. She had to brush it aside, they had to focus on getting out of there. "Sam, keep moving! We need to get to-"_

_It was too late. The Korean sergeant started to turn and a glob of venom, much larger than that which hit Thomas, struck her in the chest, burning through her breastplate in a matter of seconds and through her flesh like it was nothing. She collapsed mid-stride, sliding and rolling a couple more meters before coming to a halt, clearly dead. Beside her, Zheng produced a rocket launcher and fired it at the thresher maw who'd killed Sam, hitting it in the neck and blowing a massive hole in the worm. Globs of burnt flesh and sizzling green blood splattered around them, burning them with the spray. Fortunately, the blood wasn't nearly as acidic as their venom and it didn't burn through their armor...Dima was swearing in Russian as he opened fire with his Revenant, pouring rounds at the maws. One was dead...Ryan had scooped up Sam's corpse and was running towards Charlie Team's truck. They kept pushing, rendezvoused with Charlie Team, only to find all of them were already dead. "Fuck!" They'd all been hit by acid - the truck was tortured and shredded from the repeated splashes of acid spit, and all the bodies were burned beyond recognition. It was too late..._

_"Grab their dog tags and let's go!" They couldn't carry all the bodies and escape. It rebelled against every fiber of Ferin's being to leave anyone behind, but they had to. They sprinted along...Ryan had left Sam with the rest of the bodies with a whispered prayer, then the surviving four had dashed for it. Ryan went down as a boulder, tossed in the air by a maw forcing its way out of the ground, struck the ground and rolled, crushing both his legs. Ferin skidded to a halt and grabbed him - he'd passed out from the pain - throwing him into a fireman's carry and running with Zheng and Dima covering her flanks. There were the Marines in their Makos, who they'd been serving as the vanguard for. The Marines were panicked, shouting, firing their cannons at the maws. But it wasn't enough. A Mako exploded into the air as a maw came up beneath it, then disappeared, the maw crashing back into the ground and disappearing just as fast as it had appeared. Ten Marines had been on board that Mako - the platoon was already down a full quarter. The Makos threw into reverse and started moving away from the surviving N7s. Ferin shouted into her radio, "Lieutenant McCullough! Lieutenant!" There was no response. She swore and tried to raise the platoon sergeant. "Sergeant Johnson! We need you to pick us up before you leave!"_

_She got a response this time. "Fuck that! Get us the hell out of here!"_

_She swore. How the hell were they supposed to - She turned as Dima howled in pain, acid coating his left arm. He staggered, dropping his Revenant. Zheng dropped his sniper rifle and grabbed Dima by his good arm, dragging him forward as he fired his sidearm one-handed at the maws. The one that Zheng had shot with the rocket launcher was there suddenly, burrowing up directly underneath them. The last thing she saw was a spray of dirt, then the maw was gone and she was alone with Ryan, whose vital signs were fading fast... _

Ferin started as someone touched her shoulder. Her hands, which had been clenching the table, shot up defensively as she whirled. Her heart pumping, she stared without recognition for a moment, panic rising in her stomach. Then she recognized Kaidan, who was looking at her with a worried expression on his face.

"Kaidan...oh."

"You alright, Em?"

"I...yeah. Just remembering things better left unremembered."

The firm pressure of his hand steadying her shoulder remained in place. She was grateful for it. She shook her head and turned off the TV angrily. "They dedicated the Akuze memorial today."

"Ah. I'm sorry."

"It's no problem. I just...try to avoid things that remind me too much of thresher maws. Doc Mitchell never quite got me over my memories of that place."

"I understand."

"No, you really don't. But...thank you."

Kaidan gently pulled her up and walked her over to the couch, sitting down together with his arm around her. After a moment, she settled against his shoulder, resting her head on his chest comfortably, her heart rate slowing. A knock came at the door before she could really calm down, though. With a sigh, she stood.

"Probably Parasini." She opened the door to find the woman standing there, looking around her furtively.

"Come in."

Parasini walked into the room and closed the door, looking around uncomfortably. "I disabled the spycam feeds to your room for a while, they're just playing a loop of an empty room. We should have about ten minutes before the loop ends. So, let's talk."

"What's going on, Parasini?"

"Alright. I'm an agent for the Noveria Development Company. Internal Affairs. I'm here investigating allegations of corruption in the Administrator, Anoleis. I've been building a case for months, but the lizard is too careful, he hides everything too well."

"What kind of corruption?"

"Simple stuff. Embezzling, taking kickbacks from companies, playing favorites and shutting down companies that won't pay him. Thing is, while all of that should be easily traceable, it's not. The salarian managed to hide his involvement in everything - not so well that I can't tell that it's there, but well enough that there's no evidence but my gut and a whole lot of coincidences. Add that to the fact that he doesn't trust me. He suspects I'm more than I am, although he hasn't been able to find anything at all on me." She smiled with a little pride.

"Okay. So what do you want me to do?"

"There's a turian in the hotel named Lorik Qui'in. He managed to collect the evidence I need, the slam-dunk kind. But there's a problem."

"Isn't there always."

Parasini chuckled. "Anoleis found out that Qui'in got evidence, and accused him of corruption. His office is now locked down, and only Qui'in knows where the evidence is. He's not going to trust me, since I'm Anoleis' assistant, but you...you could try and get it from him."

"And if I get this evidence for you?"

"I'll get you the garage pass you need, I'll clean up whatever mess you're going to make at Peak 15, I'll prevent Benezia from gaining clearance to leave the planet, and I'll keep stalling the NDC's investigation into your little break-in last night."

"Where will I find Qui'in?"

"He's normally drinking his sorrows away at the hotel bar, down in the lounge."

"Roger that. Alright, Parasini, I'll do this for you. But you better have that garage pass ready for me."

"It's a deal. Good luck, Shepard."

Parasini stood. "You should be out of this room for the next ten minutes, along with anyone else. It'd look suspicious if people suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, yeah?"

"Noted."

The woman sauntered out of the room, closing the door gently behind her. Ferin and Kaidan walked back to their room, lying down beside each other on the unmade bed.

"And now we're involved in corporate investigations of corruption. Just when I thought we couldn't get more sidetracked from killing Saren," Ferin commented idly.

"Somehow everything gets turned into politics in the end." Kaidan shrugged. "Just the way life is. It's just it's varying degrees of fairness."

"Yeah. Except we always get screwed." Ferin sighed. "We've been here too long. I don't know what Saren is doing out there, but it can't be anything good. And he's had two weeks. The situation on Virmire is getting interesting, and Admiral Hackett has a new assignment for me. We need to be off the planet in two days, tops."

"Think we can get Benezia in that much time?"

"We'll have to. Go get the rest of the squad and bring them into our suite's lounge, will you? I need to give them a briefing."

"Yeah."

The squad was fully assembled a half hour later; Liara and Wrex, on guard duty down in the garage, had gotten sidetracked on the way up by an elevator malfunction while they were in it. Ferin glanced around at her assembled band of misfits and brought up a map of the galaxy.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. We've got an interesting situation here. As you all know, we're here."

She gestured to Noveria on the holographic interface, marking it with a blue circle. She started gesturing to different systems around the galaxy as she continued, marking them red.

"These are areas with reported geth activity, indicating that Saren has an interest in those regions."

"There's no pattern," Garrus observed. "None of those systems are known for the same resources or exports, they're dominated by different races, and they're in random parts of the galaxy. There's no logic there."

Ferin nodded. "It doesn't make sense for a search, either, as they'd use a sweeping pattern. It may just be that he's trying to hide his location - trying and succeeding, I might add. Two days ago, an N7 company beat back a massive geth incursion in the Skyllian Verge. At the same time, the 77th Turian Fleet took out several geth outposts in Hades Gamma, while several colonies have been hit. We're also getting some disturbing intel from some of the S.A. colonies out there."

"About what?" Miranda cocked an eyebrow.

"They don't know. It seems like someone is testing weapons on our colonies though. Intel suggests that it's a former Alliance unit, codename Tartarus. They went rogue a couple years back or something; I remember that ODA 454 went to go check it out, but we were deployed and rebased before they returned from assignment."

"Tartarus? That's odd. What kind of tests are they doing?"

"It's weird. It looks like they got their hands on those Dragon's Teeth that the geth used to create husks back on Eden Prime. Data logs indicate that they arrived in an unscheduled shipment to a colony on Chasca in the Maroon Sea. All the colonists were dead, transformed into husks."

Ashley swore softly under her breath as Ferin continued. "They found thorian creepers, the plant things from Feros, at Nodacrux in the same cluster. Again, the whole colony was dead. There've been other unexplained killings and destruction and it seems to stem from Tartarus. Research facilities on Pragia, destroyed alien freighters, things like that. Admiral Hackett wants me to investigate, although, obviously, Saren is our top priority right now."

The others looked thoughtful, although Miranda had an odd expression marring her features. Ferin made eye contact with her, shooting a questioning glance at her, and the woman just shrugged and returned to her earlier expression of alertness. Ferin paused, then decided to continue with the update.

"Parasini's offered to get us to Benezia if we can find some evidence from a turian named Lorik Qui'in to help bring down some corruption. Needless to say, I accepted. So we're going to find this evidence, capture Benezia, and leave, within two days. We can't afford to wait in Noveria any longer. Virmire is getting serious - the STG team there hasn't been able to penetrate the facility, but they've managed to remain hidden, and they report ever-growing numbers of both geth and krogan at the facility. They have only seen Saren once, and only assumably - they saw his flagship, Sovereign, and it has not returned since then."

"So he's not using Virmire as a base."

"It appears so. Regardless, there will be important intel there, and the site is still active; anything Saren has interest in is something we do too. It may shed some light on his whereabouts or his interests. One other thing. We have to avoid engaging Sovereign. I know Ash, Kaidan and I have seen the ship for ourselves, but for the rest of you. STG and Alliance spooks believe the ship's main cannon alone possesses roughly four times more firepower than all the guns on a turian dreadnought. It's got massive mass effect generators - we saw the dreadnought land on Eden Prime, something no other dreadnought in the galaxy can do. We don't know its capabilities, but the Normandy - hell, probably a fleet - wouldn't stand a chance against it."

"And that means we need to ambush Saren or infiltrate his position on land."

"Yeah. A naval attack would be suicide." Ferin rubbed her nose, looking around. "Alright. Garrus, you, Liara, and Kaidan are up. Go find this Lorik Qui'in. Find out where the evidence is and report in. Miranda, you and I are going to work on analyzing this threat from Tartarus. Tali, you and Ash suit up and be ready to respond if Garrus and the others need some firepower. Miranda and I will be ready to go as well. Questions?"

The room was silent. "Let's get to it, people."

Six hours later, progress was frustratingly slow. Ferin and Miranda had been poring over reports and reconnaissance from across Alliance Central Command, but hadn't found any indications of what Tartarus' goals were or where their bases were. Garrus, Liara, and Kaidan had talked to Qui'in, who'd told them where the evidence was on the condition that he return the evidence to them. Parasini wanted them to return the evidence, but to also convince Qui'in to testify against Anoleis in court. They were at Synthetic Insights - Qui'in's company - working on retrieving the evidence, along with Ash and Tali. And Miranda and Ferin still hadn't found much about Tartarus.

"What about Cerberus records? Surely you guys had to work with these Tartarus guys at some point. Both black ops."

"I don't know. We don't really advertise who we are, normally."

"You told me readily enough."

"That was a different situation. Normally we just tell them we're operatives working on behalf of humanity. Anything else is too much."

"Interesting." Ferin sighed, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her eyes. "You want some coffee?"

"Sure."

"Black, I assume?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Em."

"Yup." Ferin got up and left the study, heading to the kitchen to find the small strike team led by Garrus and an unfamiliar turian. "Garrus! I assume you were successful, then?"

"Yeah, but there were complications. We got the evidence though. Qui'in wouldn't listen to us, though, figured you could talk to him."

"What complications?"

"Anoleis bought some security guys to break into SI and ransack the place, find the evidence and destroy it. Our old friend Sergeant Stirling was among them."

"Mm. And?"

"The NDC's security division just got a little smaller," he commented dryly.

"Wonderful. Hopefully..." She glanced at Qui'in, remembering Parasini had mentioned he didn't trust her. "Our contact in the NDC can head off any fallout. So, Mr. Qui'in, my name is Shepard. I'm a Spectre."

"I know. The entire planet has been abuzz with the news that a Council Spectre has been here for almost three weeks."

"I assume you know what I'm about to ask you?"

"Yes. You want me to testify against Anoleis. It's bad for business. Better that I use the evidence myself."

"Mm. Garrus, where's the evidence?"

"In my rucksack."

"Hard copies or digital?"

"Both."

"Alright. Good work." She returned her attention to Qui'in. "You refuse to help Internal Affairs take down a corrupt bureaucrat?"

"Every other business on Noveria will refuse to work with SI if they think we're working so closely with the police. You think Anoleis is the only corrupt man on Noveria?"

"Hmm. I think I'd better give the evidence to Anoleis, then."

"Y-you...you what?" After a moment, he added on plaintively - almost pitifully - "Why?"

"Well, you refuse to testify. Obviously you hate justice and deserve whatever Anoleis does."

"I...what insane breed of logic is that?" Garrus glanced over at Ferin with a confused expression on his face, although Qui'in, with his back turned, did not notice it.

"I...very well, I will testify against Anoleis. Give me the evidence, please."

Garrus handed the turian the discs and papers from his rucksack. Qui'in sighed heavily. "Let Parasini know that she has won. I will do as she asks. I only hope my company will not suffer unduly for this."

"Thank you, Lorik."

He shrugged and stood, leaving the suite. After a moment, Garrus spoke.

"For a moment, I was thinking we might need to take you back in to see Doctor Chakwas."

"Why?"

"I was worried that you might have sustained permanent brain damage or something when you talked about...what was it, hating justice?"

Ferin started laughing. "Sometimes the best way to get things done is to not make any sense doing them."

"Fair enough."

"Go talk to Parasini, let her know what's up. Once you have the garage pass, get back here. We're gonna head out in eight hours - make sure we're plenty well-rested before we head out into that goddamned blizzard."

"Alright."

The group left, except for Kaidan, who lingered in the room hesitantly.

"What's up, Kaidan?"

"I...wasn't sure. Are you alright, Ferin?"

"Hmm? Why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just...well, I see you...not long ago, you were freaking out about Akuze, but now it's back to business as usual for you. I guess I'm just wondering if you're alright."

Ferin paused, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She turned to face Kaidan. "I'm alright, Kaidan. Thanks. I...have gotten good at separating my emotions from myself since Akuze. Had to. It's all business."

"Well...I mean...?"

"Yes?"

"Even when you're not working, sometimes, it seems like you have that separation. For example, you don't really have that many nightmares, at least that I've noticed."

Ferin shrugged. He raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you're not telling me, Em?"

"Just because I don't have nightmares doesn't mean something's up, Kaidan."

"No," he agreed, "but it's odd. Ashley has nightmares pretty frequently."

Ferin frowned. "Hold on. How do you know that Ash has nightmares?"

"She's talked about it to me?"

"Oh." She paused awkwardly. "Sorry, stupid thought."

"Anyway," he pressed on," you don't."

"So maybe I've handled it better than them?"

"Or maybe it's the pills that you've been taking every night?"

Ferin sighed. She'd taken efforts to avoid taking her sleeping pills when Kaidan was around. It was true though, she'd been slipping a couple pills every night before she went to sleep since her encounter with the Reds back on the Citadel. It calmed her down, let her sleep well.

"Kaidan, who gave you permission to go through my things?"

"You did when we started dating."

"Oh, wonderful. You know, that's an attitude that gets a lot of relationships to change from dating to restraining orders."

"I have a right to be concerned, Em. How long have you been taking sleeping pills?"

"Why are you bothering me about it? Why not talk to Ash about her little drinking problem?"

"Ferin..."

"Drop it, Kaidan."

"I...alright, Shepard. I'm here if you want to talk, okay?" Ferin had to repress the urge to roll her eyes. She got that Kaidan just wanted to help, but it was sometimes truly infuriating when people expected her to just...there really wasn't a reason for her to be as angry as she was. He was just concerned. But she still felt that fury.

"Just go, Kaidan."

"Alright." He held his hands up and left the room, leaving her alone to stew. After a moment, she returned to the room where Miranda was still poring over reports, a small frown marring her features. Ferin cocked an eyebrow as she handed her a cup of coffee.

"What's wrong?"

"Some of these reports are just odd. I'll have to talk to my boss, see what he knows about this."

"Ah yes, the mysterious Illusive Man. You'll have to tell me more about him sometime."

Miranda smiled slightly. "No promises, Shepard. Although if you're considering going over to the dark side...I know Cerberus would love to have you."

"Anyway, what's bothering you about the reports? Other than the whole...testing weapons on colonies thing."

"It just doesn't seem like something that an organization claiming to be working for humanity would do. Regardless, I'm not even sure why we're looking into this, Ferin."

"Oh? You don't think we should be investigating psychopathic arms testing?"

"It's not that, it's that I think our mission with Saren should be of the highest importance. These missions may be important, but nothing's more important for humanity's security than the elimination of Saren. And the Alliance has hundreds of operational N7 teams that can investigate in our stead. These reports of thorian creepers, or testing geth weapons, or luring Alliance squads into maw nests...they're important, yes, but our mission is higher priority."

"You make a fair point. But Admiral Hackett asked us to investigate it personally, and...well, you know Admiral Hackett."

Miranda nodded slowly. "I do, indeed. Not a man you can easily turn down. He's much like the Illusive Man, in many respects."

"Is that so? This Illusive Man sounds like someone I'd like."

"I rather think you would. Anyway, I thought I heard Wrex and the others. What's going on, Ferin?"

"Oh, right. We're a go to finally get into that damned garage and start pursuing Benezia."

"Excellent. What's the plan?"

"I was actually hoping to start talking that over with you, right now. The others are going over their gear and making sure they're ready for action. Right now we need to figure out what we can about the facility we're gonna hit. Parasini's supposed to tell us where we're headed, and we'll need Normandy to do some aerial recon."

"Alright. I'm game."

"Let's get started, then."


	8. Chapter 8: Loss and Discovery

Ferin had only gotten a couple hours of sleep after they'd finished and briefed their plan when they entered the garage with the garage pass that Agent Parasini had secured for them. The garage was a spacious affair, with dozens upon dozens of different vehicles, all specialized to deal with the harsh, icy terrain of Noveria. They'd be rolling out in a convoy of three treaded vehicles, designed to plow through the snow and retain traction over ice and rock. The vehicles were well-insulated and the windshields were designed not to ice or fog, but they were also unarmed except for their personal weapons, and the vehicles moved slowly - too slowly for Ferin's liking. The plan was that the Marines and Normandy crew would remain at the luxurious hotel and maintain readiness to confront Benezia, while Ferin and her small squad were headed to Peak 15, where Benezia's manifest said that she was heading. They'd all equipped themselves for a mission in cold weather, Ferin and Miranda helping the less experienced members of the team with their equipment. At a minimum, all the members of the squad were wearing cold weather gear - even Miranda had put on heavy winter gear over her usual sexy outfit - and carrying firestarting equipment, ice axes, ropes, and spiked boots. Because Noveria could not sustain any life outside of artificial structures, all of the squad were carrying rucksacks filled with military rations, ponchos, and thermal sleeping bags. Thanks to miniaturized mass effect fields, the rucksacks, though they were filled with a hundred and twenty pounds of equipment, would have only weighed around ten pounds on Earth, and weighed even less in the weak gravity of Noveria. If the worst came to pass, any of them, alone, could survive at least for a few days. The poncho could provide a small tent in times of need; if they found shelter, they could start a fire and set up a small camp while they radioed for help. The only problem was armor - sleeping in armor wasn't possible in the thermal sleeping bags - and Noveria was so cold during its winter cycle that armor - which was designed to be worn over the naked body - would cause frostbite, if they tried to put it on after sleeping, but that was a problem that could be adapted to.

Ferin had elected to bring a light load for the mission - Peak 15 was a lab, so it would be close-quarters - and had left her usual heavy sniper rifle behind. All she carried was her M4 Valkyrie, a Legion pistol, and a Crusader shotgun - a riot shotgun with extraordinary accuracy, thanks to the VI controlling its smart choke - along with her usual longsword. Garrus, worried about the firepower on the civilian vehicles they had available, had managed to lug along a crew-served medium machine gun. Miranda had also decided to bring a heavy weapon - she had a guided recoilless rifle slung on her back in addition to her Valkyrie, an M-5 Phalanx pistol, and an M-7 Punisher SMG. It bore a heavy resemblance to the old German MP7, an SMG that had been popular with the old-time special operations in the early 21st century, but was beautifully designed, even if it had been designed by Blood Pack mercenaries. The weapon fired a heavy armor-piercing slug for every three rounds fired from the weapon's main ammunition stock, giving it armor-piercing and anti-personnel capabilities without any omni-tool manipulation or switching of ammunition blocks. It had a very high rate of fire and the short length of the weapon made it ideal for close quarters combat, although it lacked the accuracy of a rifle.

Based on the weapons and expertise of each member of the squad, Ferin had assigned the convoy positions. The lead vehicle had Garrus, because he was carrying the machine gun, along with Kaidan, the pathfinder, and Liara, to provide them with biotic support. Tali was assigned to the middle vehicle so that she, as the engineer expert, could make it rapidly to any of the three vehicles if they suffered a breakdown. Ferin was also in the second vehicle, as it provided her with the best situational awareness and put her in the best position to make command decisions for the small convoy. The third vehicle was driven by Ashley, and also had Wrex and Miranda in the vehicle - Miranda had the second heavy weapon, and both Wrex and Miranda could provide biotic support, although neither were as strong as Liara. It left the middle vehicle undermanned and lacking biotic potential aside from Ferin, who was less powerful than any of the others with biotics, but based on the configuration and the spacing of the vehicles, it wouldn't be a problem.

It was bitterly cold, even with the heating turned on in the vehicles, as they exited the garage. Ferin drummed her fingers along the passenger-side door of the vehicle, looking around uncomfortably. The only viable path to Peak 15 was dangerous, along a winding mountain road with a lot of steep drop-offs and perfect positions for ambushes. And geth wouldn't be too concerned about the cold - although she wasn't sure if the cold might mess with their hardware - if Benezia had brought them, although Ferin couldn't see how she could have smuggled them onto Noveria. Regardless, she felt ill at ease as they began the lonely sojourn into the mountains. Almost immediately, the wind hit the vehicles hard enough to shake the vehicles with some of the more powerful gusts of wind, and snow swirled so thickly around the vehicles that even with the bright headlights on, they could see only a few meters ahead of them. The slow vehicles' top speed was around sixty kilometers an hour, but in the blizzard, they were moving at maybe twenty kilometers an hour. Occasionally, Ferin would catch glimpses of the world outside - just barren, snowy rock. Ferin felt more lonely in the vehicle, surrounded by an eternal winter, than she had in years, shivering in her thickly padded armor. The solitary mood wasn't helped by Liara's choice of music in the lead car - a popular asari instrumental band. The piece she'd decided to play was a piano piece played in a minor key with a few asari woodwinds in the background. If it had been a movie, it would have been perfect for the environment of Noveria, but in the thick of the actual environment, Ferin found herself wishing for something cheerful and warm. Still, Ferin didn't begrudge Liara her music - they were en route to arrest or kill the young archeologist's mother, after all.

The trip to Peak 15 would take several hours in the blizzard - Ferin had given them a lot of extra time for travel in her plan, and figured it wouldn't be long before they were off the planet. Still, she had a bad feeling in her gut about the labs. This whole situation gave her a bad feeling. They were rushing off into the unknown against an unknown enemy, and if there was one thing she'd learned from soldiering since she was 16, it was that the more unknowns there were in a situation, no matter how well-trained, the more casualties you'd take. Plans might always disintegrate as soon as contact with the enemy was gained, but going into battle without a creative plan, without contingencies - all of which were created from knowledge of the area, of the enemy, and of friendly forces - was asking for a massacre.

"So do they know what happened there?" Liara's voice came over the music that was playing. Ferin started in surprise at the sound, drawing a glance from Tali.

"No...no. They just know that Peak 15 sounded a system alert. No one's responded to any requests for communication from Noveria's security forces."

"And that's very bad?"

"From what Parasini said, yes. The alert only goes off when they've initiated high level security measures. The fusion generator's gone offline - which means that the facility is sitting at a comfortable negative thirty degrees right now - all internal defenses have been activated, so mechs, turrets, and corporate security all have live fire authorization - and everything short of a neutron purge has been done."

"So what happens now?"

"We go and check it out. The timing of the alert cannot be a coincidence with the timing of Benezia's arrival."

Liara's sigh was audible. "I...still am unsure what to think, Shepard. My mother was...is...a good person."

"I know, Liara, but remember what Shiala said on Feros. Saren's ship - Sovereign - has some way of insidiously twisting minds. It's possible she's not working under her own free will for Saren."

"I hope we can save her."

Ferin didn't answer. She didn't want to make any false promises.

"So...what would NDC do if we weren't here?"

"Their board of directors is going to vote on whether to initiate bombing runs on the facility, if they don't hear an all-clear. Experiments done in the hot labs at various locations on Noveria are often...extremely dangerous."

"But they won't do that with us there, right?"

Ferin didn't answer again.

"...right?"

"They're probably going to be voting on it tomorrow if we don't get an all-clear sent. But even if we don't, we'll be out of there before tomorrow, so no problem."

"...if you say so, Commander."

The ride passed uneventfully for several hours. Ferin eventually settled in a sort of trance, scanning her sectors but not really registering their whereabouts, her mind resting as they pushed on through the darkness and the snow. Finally, the convoy ground to a halt, about two kilometers away from their objective. Ferin frowned; the original plan had been to drive into the Peak and dismount inside the facility.

"Garrus, why're we halting?"

"There must have been an avalanche. The road's impassable and the bridge has collapsed. There's no way through with vehicles."

"Wonderful. Well, this is why we brought ropes and climbing gear. Alright, everyone dismount. Abandon vehicles, grab your rucks, and I hope you kept in shape during our little vacation."

The wind howled in Ferin's ears as she clambered out of the small vehicle, the cold biting deeply into her bones, setting her to shivering in seconds. She trudged through the snow, which came up to her knees, to the edge of the chasm they'd stopped at and needed to cross. Their side was maybe two hundred and sixty, two hundred and seventy feet above the bottom of the chasm. She couldn't see the other side, but from what she remembered from the map, the chasm was about a kilometer wide.

"This is gonna suck," she muttered. A chorus of agreement came back to her from her squad, who'd all heard her through their helmet radios. She sighed, finding a likely looking location to anchor their rope from. "Miranda! Get the rope out of your vehicle!"

"On the way, Shepard." Miranda arrived a few moments later with a heavy, three-hundred meter length of climbing rope. She grimaced as she carefully handed the heavy rope off to Ferin; the rope had been carefully packed to avoid any tangling with itself. Ferin quickly secured the rope to the anchor before they lowered the rope into the chasm, ensuring the rope didn't tangle on itself as they steadily lowered it until it hit the ground.

"Get your harnesses tied and get ready to go." She quickly tied her own swiss seat, pulling it tightly into the grooves built into her armor, before turning to inspect the group. She was concerned about Wrex, Liara, and Tali. Kaidan, Miranda, Ashley, Garrus, and herself were in really good physical condition - they'd been soldiers for years and kept up on their PT, especially Miranda and herself. Wrex was in great condition, as well, but he weighed a considerable amount and wasn't really built for climbing. As for Liara and Tali, they'd only been exposed to real military training for the last couple months, and while they'd both been pretty fit for civilians coming in, she wasn't sure if they had the stamina for the climb they'd need to make. Still, she didn't see another option. They had to get through the chasm, and the only way across was down and up.

"Alright. Mira, you're up first. Then myself, Wrex, Ash, Tali, Liara, Garrus, and finally, Kaidan. We all should be down pretty fast. It'll be the climb that'll suck. Let's go."

"Roger that, Shepard." Miranda slung her Valkyrie, clipped herself into the rope, wrapping the carabiner twice, then disappeared over the edge as she began the rappell down. Ferin knelt by the edge, watching her progress; the gusts of wind occasionally blew her somewhat off-course, but the path down was relatively easy and free of obstructions or challenges, and she made it to the bottom of the cliff in about ten bounds.

"Off rappell," Ferin heard over the helmet radio as Miranda unclipped herself from the rope. Ferin turned and clipped her own seat in, dropping into an L and beginning her own descent. As had happened with Miranda, the gusting wind knocked her off course a few times, but as a whole, she made it down uneventfully. A couple minutes later, she was on the ground beside Mira, grateful for the shelter from the wind thanks to the high cliff walls and the collapsed bridge and rockfall forming a third wall that the wind was blowing over top of.

"I'm good. Guys, watch the wind, the gusts can blow you around a little."

"Acknowledged."

Wrex was up next. Despite her misgivings, given his build, the krogan made it down pretty rapidly, and unwound the rope from the set of carabiners built into his krogan-styled harness. And so it went, uneventfully, until about ten minutes later, the whole squad was crouched down enjoying the respite from the wind. The eight squadmates started trudging towards the other side of the chasm. Even shielded from the wind, the snow and the cold slowed them down to the point that it took almost half an hour to trudge to the other side. They looked up at the cliff with some dismay; it was around five or six hundred meters high - not a minor climb at all.

"That is...a very long climb," Liara observed as she bit her lip. "I hope my arms don't get tired too fast."

"If you guys need to take breaks, I see a few outcroppings that you could probably rest on. If you do take a rest, though, make sure you have an axe buried in the cliff while you're resting. Don't need you getting blown off the ledge or something. And remember, the straps never come off your wrists."

"Yeah, yeah. At least you don't have to climb with a twenty pound machine gun hanging off your shoulder," Garrus commented.

"No, I just have an eight pound rifle and a ten pound shotgun. Very different."

"Hey, two pounds adds up."

Ferin punched him playfully on the shoulder. "At least our rucksacks are pretty light," she said.

"Yeah. I'd hate to have been a soldier back before the krogan rebellions. You know, turians used to carry this much gear without mass effect fields."

"Humans too. We still do it in training."

"I knew there was a reason that we lost the First Contact War," Garrus said dryly. "And it definitely wasn't because of intelligence, tactics, or strategy. I guess it was because you humans are like krogan - moronically determined."

"I heard that," Wrex rumbled. After a moment, he wasn't able to keep a straight face and started chuckling. Ferin smiled, shaking her head. "Better start moving. Can't stay here all day."

"Nope, I guess not." Tali sighed as she stood.

"Liara, Tali, give your weapons to Miranda and me," Ferin said as she slung her rifle on her back. Miranda sighed as she slung her own M4, muttering about the rocket launcher she was carrying. Ferin ignored her griping and took the shotgun and pistol that Tali had brought, slinging the shotgun beside her own two long weapons and sliding the pistol into her rucksack. She turned and faced the cliff wall, hefting the two ice axes she had, before approaching the wall and burying one of the axes in ice and tugging on it. The ice held, and after a moment, she swung her other arm up and began scaling the wall with the two ice axes and the spiked boots she was wearing. Progress was slow, despite her athleticism, as the wind seemed to pick up in ferocity and the cold seemed to sap her of all energy. It didn't help that she was soon sweating heavily from the exertion, yet even with the cold weather gear on and the heating system of her armor, her armor was icy cold against her bare skin. Beside her, Miranda grimly climbed - she was actually surprised at how fast the woman was scaling the wall. Miranda seemed to be a machine; she hadn't stopped to rest once, and was climbing like it was nothing. It made sense, Ferin supposed, given the woman's gene modifications, but Ferin had rarely encountered people who could match her physical abilities. She stopped for a moment to check on the others. Liara and Tali were the next climbing pair; they were some sixty meters below Ferin and Miranda, who had climbed about halfway up the cliff. Wrex and Ashley were right on their heels, and she knew that Kaidan and Garrus wouldn't be far behind. She grimaced and continued climbing, digging her boots into the ice deeply and straining as she continued pulling herself up with the ice axes.

Her muscles were burning badly by the time she finally reached the top of the cliff and rolled over onto the top, panting. She forced herself to sit up - she was already shivering - and unslung her Valkyrie, bringing it up to bear as she took a knee beside Miranda, who seemed similarly exhausted. The half-kilometer climb had left her arms shaking with exhaustion - she could only imagine how much harder it would be on the others. By mutual agreement, Ferin and Miranda moved up and sat back to back against each other, trying to conserve as much heat as they could as they pulled security at the cliff top. It was half an hour before the next pair got up - Wrex and Ashley. Wrex's strength seemed undiminished, as he reached over the side and pulled Ashley up.

"Liara and Tali are resting on a ledge before they keep climbing," Wrex grunted. "Kaidan and Garrus are resting as well." Without waiting for acknowledgement, he trudged to their side and joined the perimeter, running his hands over his shotgun possessively. Ashley, after she'd recovered somewhat, crawled over to the opposite side from Wrex and brought her rifle online. Another miserable hour passed before the remaining four squad members pulled themselves over the edge. Kaidan and Garrus were in good spirits, but Liara and Tali's muscles were trembling as they lay flat in the snow. Ferin, her teeth chattering, stood up and dropped Tali's weapons beside her.

"Come on," she managed to get out. "We need to get to Peak 15. At least there the wind won't be so fucking terrible. Wrex, take point."

Wrex grumbled as he hefted his shotgun and started plowing through the slow, clearing a somewhat easier path for the rest of them to follow in a file. Luckily, there were no ambushes waiting for them or enemy traps - if there had been, Ferin doubted that they could have fought them off effectively. Wrex seemed as energetic as ever, but even her and Miranda - the only N7 operators in the group - were moving slowly, the cold taking a heavy toll on them. It was with considerable relief that they saw Peak 15's facility rising ahead of them. The garage door was wide-open, disturbingly enough. Ferin frowned. There were a few irregular lumps in the snow. She trudged over and brushed the snow off one to find a frozen corpse, three bullet wounds in the salarian's chest. Ashley rolled over another corpse at the entrance to the facility, Liara discovered another one.

"Gunshot wounds. They're not dressed for cold weather, either. They must have been forced outside...or been running from a worse fate than hypothermia," Ferin noted. Liara shrugged, her shoulders shaking.

"L-let's worry about it...inside the building."

Ferin nodded and gestured. They entered the chamber, their weapons drawn and their flashlights illuminating the pitch-black garage, moving as quietly as their numb limbs could manage.

"Shepard, this darkness is going to make it a little harder," Garrus muttered as he advanced slowly.

"Facility lost power as part of its emergency protocols. If any biological agents that they were testing got loose and they couldn't kill or decontaminate, they just shut off the heat."

"Let them freeze to death, huh?"

"Yeah. Along with any unfortunate researchers, it seems."

They fanned out and cleared the room slowly. The doors leading in and out of the garage were shut, though the locks were disengaged thanks to the lack of electricity. Ferin muttered as she looked around. They were half-frozen and exhausted, but they needed to start up the power before they could rest. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.

"Falcon Team...rear guard. Kestrel Team, you're on point. Eagle Team, with me. We need to reactivate the fusion reactors."

They'd decided on three teams prior to launch, once they'd entered the facility. Falcon was led by Garrus, with Ashley and Kaidan as team members. Kestrel was led by Miranda and contained Tali and Wrex. Eagle was Ferin herself, along with Liara. They quickly spread out and started moving in their wedges, maintaining spacing between the teams. They'd downloaded schematics of Peak 15 before they'd departed and every squad member had a copy on their omni-tools, but in the darkness, it was easy to get turned around, particularly with the fatigue and cold wearing them down. At the first intersection they hit, Kestrel moved right while Falcon went left and Eagle continued forward, the sounds of their squadmate's footsteps receding into the darkness as they continued forward. Ferin could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing up as they kept moving, and eventually signaled a halt. Liara looked around uneasily.

"Shepard, I have a bad feeling about this place."

"Yeah, you're telling me."

"Well, maybe it would be best if we don't linger too long."

"Quiet, Liara. You hear anything?"

They fell silent for some time, listening for any unusual sounds. There was nothing aside from the creaking of old pipes and the dripping of water. Ferin frowned, looking around before she stood and started moving again. "Let's g-"

"Wait! Gunfire!"

Ferin had heard it too - she cocked her head, trying to figure out where it was coming from, but there were too many echoes to try and figure out a distance or direction. There was clearly automatic gunfire, though - it sounded like a light machine gun or maybe a turret.

"Anyone have contact?" She spoke quickly into her helmet mic as she took a knee, scanning the hallway again as she waited for a response. There was only static for a few moments before Miranda responded.

"Ran into mechs and a mounted VI turret. No problems."

"Roger that. Keep us posted."

"Shepard, have you run into a lot of corpses?"

"Not really. You guys have?"

"Yeah. A...a _lot_ of bodies."

Garrus joined the conversation. "We've run into a lot of bodies too. Mostly scientists or security."

"Yeah. That's not worries me, it's how most of them died. Some died with gunshot wounds - probably Benezia's work - but there's civilians dead here who died from lacerations and...I don't really know what could have caused the injuries that some of these have. This guy's chest cavity is just gone."

"We've seen more gunshot wounds than we have strange wounds, but we've seen a couple of those," Garrus said. "I've got a feeling that whatever caused the alert killed some of these guys, Commander."

"Yeah. Keep your eyes peeled and watch your six."

"Roger that."

Ferin started advancing again, Liara moving beside her and slightly behind her. The hallway was clear all the way to the fusion control area. She noticed a couple of deactivated turrets.

"Check that out, Liara. Turrets. But they're deactivated, not destroyed."

"Why are they facing the interior of the facility and not the exterior?"

Ferin shrugged. "Sometimes corporations want to keep their employees in facilities just as much as they want to keep outsiders out. "

"What a horrible place to work."

"I-wait! Movement!"

"I saw it, too. What was it?"

"I don't know. Looked like some kind of insect?"

"Ugh. Keep an eye out."

They advanced slowly. Ferin could hear a scrabbling sound from inside the room, which was illuminated with dim red emergency lighting, but she couldn't place it as they advanced slowly, pausing just short of the open door. Ferin touched Liara's shoulder, who nodded in response. She quickly entered the room, turning right immediately as Liara followed and turned left, clearing their corners and quickly sweeping left to find that the room was empty.

"What? Where did that thing go?"

"I don't know. Maybe it ran off. Press forward, we're close to the control center."

They started crossing the room, when Ferin heard a clang behind her. She didn't hesitate as she turned and dropped to one knee to see a gigantic bug rapidly creeping towards her. It spat a glob of a greenish substance that splattered against her visor, her shields quickly draining as she fell backwards, wiping at the substance until she could see the bug on top of her. She dropped her rifle as she grabbed the thing's pincers, holding them apart as it tried to bite down on her, growling with the effort. A moment later, she heard several bursts of automatic fire, before the thing went limp. She kicked it away from herself, scrabbling backwards away from it and grimacing as she looked down at her armor. Liara rushed over, her eyes wide with shock.

"Commander! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Liara. Thanks." Ferin coughed, looking down at herself. Its spit had burned through her cold weather gear and left the hood and most of it around her shoulders and chest ruined. She pulled what was left of it off in disgust and tossed it to the ground. The facility was well below freezing, but the gear was useless at that point. Her armor, thankfully, was intact; the acid hadn't damaged the synthetic weave or the ceramic plates, although several of the thermal clips she'd stored on her chest rig were useless. She tossed the broken clips aside and stood, picking up her rifle.

"So...what the hell is that thing?"

"I...it almost looks like a rachni."

"That's impossible, isn't it? The rachni have been extinct for a millennium."

"Only declared extinct," Liara said. "We never knew if we exterminated them completely. And from the pictures in books that I've seen...well, xenobiology is not my area of expertise."

Ferin sighed. "Alright. Let's warn the others. Kestrel, Falcon teams, come in."

"What's going on, Shepard?"

"I...Liara and I were just attacked by what appears to be a rachni."

"Rachni?" Wrex's voice came on suddenly. "That's not possible. We exterminated every last rachni in that last glorious battle on Suen."

"Well...we're not sure, but Liara thinks they're rachni."

"Hmph. Guess I'll have to clean up the mess again, just like we did for the salarians."

Ferin shook her head as she turned and started towards the control center again, Liara close behind her. "Kestrel, Falcon, how close are you to your objectives?"

"Falcon here. We just ran into...well, guess."

"Rachni?"

"No, try again."

Ferin sighed. "Garrus, for the love of..."

"Geth."

"Seriously? How many?"

"A squad. We took them out without any problems. We're about to reach the helium-3 fuel stations that Parasini told us about."

"Roger that. Kestrel?"

"Think we just ran into some rachni," Miranda said.

"How'd that go?"

"Wrex went krogan on them."

"Ah."

"Yeah. I don't think I'm ever going to get the blood out of my cold weather gear."

Ferin chuckled a little as she ignored the comment. "How close are you to the objective?"

"We're on the roof of the facility now. It's balls-cold up here, but we're reconnecting the landlines now."

"Good work. Eagle's at the fusion control now. Reconsolidate on my position once your objectives are completed. Sending navpoints now."

"Got it."

"You know, Miranda, Shepard's getting bossier lately," Garrus remarked.

"I've noticed that too. It's probably because of Kaidan."

Kaidan spoke up. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Aren't you forgetting something, lieutenant?"

"What's that supposed to mean, _ma'am_?"

Garrus laughed. "You know what we mean, Kaidan. You're kind of...you let Shepard drive the action. Bossy at home means bossy at work."

"I don't even-"

Ferin felt she needed to intercede. "You know, I can still hear you guys."

"What? Oh, right. Hey, switch back to the channel we were on before."

"Wait, you guys were talking about me before?" Ferin waited, but they didn't respond. "Guys? Oh, you assholes...I know you can hear me."

She shook her head, suddenly starting out of her amused mood and snapping back into alertness as a humming sound came from behind her. She spun to see a virtual asari holographically projected behind her.

"Greetings. My name is Mira. How can I assist you today?"

"Uh...access station records."

"Top secret classification is required for access to those records. Please authenticate."

"Lieutenant Colonel Ferin Shepard. Council Spectre."

"Please wait, authenticating. Error: Rank does not match records."

"Oh, for the love of...Commander Ferin Shepard. Council Spectre." It was probably Anderson's doing, having her entered into the Council with her Naval rank. He'd never stopped giving her grief for being a soldier, not a sailor.

"Please wait, authenticating. Access granted. Good evening, Commander Shepard. How can I assist you today?"

"Access station records."

"Accessing. What would you like to know?"

"What are the insectoid creatures roaming the facility?"

"They are the offspring of Specimen 1A - a rachni queen."

"Give me the timeline that led to the emergency lockdown."

"20:58, 27 June 2183 CE, cameras go offline in hot labs. 21:00, alarm sounded in the hot labs. 21:10, cameras come online in hot labs and identify specimens 1B through 97C have been released. 21:13, first fatality - Dr. Leia Solo. 21:14, Captain Ventralis authorizes live fire and activates station mechanized security forces. 21:19, hot labs are abandoned by security forces. 21:32, biohazard contamination spreads to entrance chambers via trams. 21:53, cameras identify unknown, armed geth forces. 22:13, cameras identify unknown, armed asari forces. 22:26, 75% of personnel in Peak 15 facility are fatalities. 22:26, biohazard contaminations extends to greater than 75% of the station. 22:26, emergency lockdown parameters met. 22:27, notification of emergency lockdown transmitted to NDC control. 22:27, fusion reactor deactivated. 22:27, landlines cut. 22:27, helium-3 fuel lines cut. 22:27, all exits sealed. 22:27, neutron purge primed and ready to fire with authorization. 2227 hours, emergency melt primed and ready to fire with authorization. 22:27, all airlocks sealed. 22:27, all decontamination locks sealed. 22:27, level one station VI access locked down. 22:27, non-essential processes shut down throughout station. 13:43, 29 June 2183 CE, helium 3 fuel-lines restored. 13:50, landlines restored. 13:52, station VI activated under current user authority."

"Are there any survivors?"

"Yes. I have identified 37 registered personnel who are still active in the hot labs."

Ferin checked her omni-tool's map. They'd need to cross a tram to reach the hot labs.

"Send me a navpoint with their location."

"Acknowledged."

"Give me a station check right now."

"Life support systems: partially active. Ventilation systems: partially active. Heating systems: offline. Fusion reactor: offline. Landlines: online. Fuel facility: online. Food systems: offline. Trams: offline. Doors: offline. Neutron purge: online. Airlocks: offline. Decontamination protocols: offline. Warning: significant biohazard contamination throughout facility - 93% contamination."

"Where is there no contamination?"

"Areas where there are organic non-specimen lifeforms."

"What's their status and disposition?"

"They are armed and actively destroying specimens nearby them. An unknown number have formed a defensive perimeter around the containment shell of Specimen 1A, while the remaining thirty-seven are taking cover in the medical bay and security headquarters."

"You said there were thirty-seven survivors."

"Thirty-seven organic non-specimen lifeforms are registered employees of this facility. The remaining numbers are unknown personnel."

"What about the geth?"

"Geth forces have formed a defensive perimeter around the containment shell of Specimen 1A."

Ferin exhaled. That's where Benezia was. "Tell me about Specimen 1A."

"Specimen 1A was an egg discovered in a derelict ship matching rachni profiles approximately twelve months ago by Eclipse Corporation mercenary forces. Binary Helix researchers received the egg and successfully hatched the egg two months later after bringing it out of cryostasis in the hot labs. Specimen 1A is a rachni queen and has reproduced at a prodigious rate. Offspring appear to be sexually dimorphous and genetically distinct despite the lack of a sexual partner. Three phenotypes have been identified among offspring: workers, small rachni that appear to be designed similarly to worker insects in hive insect species; soldiers, rachni between the size of humans and krogan that appear to be designed similarly to soldier insects in hive insect species; brood warriors, rachni between the size of humans and krogan that are similar to soldiers, but possess biotic abilities. Preliminary testing indicates that rachni are capable of communication among each other and extremely intelligent, learning rapidly and capable of using advanced military tactics. Specimen 1A appears to be capable of telepathy."

"Great. Is access to the hot labs available?"

"No. At this time, the trams are contaminated. Decontamination protocols must be initiated in the tunnels in order for access to the hot labs to be begun."

At that moment, the lights changed from the dim red of the emergency lighting to normal lighting.

"Alert: fusion reactor initalized. Non-essential processes initialized. Level one station VI access enabled."

"Good work, Liara. Now, where the hell is everyone else..."

At that moment, Garrus and his team emerged from the tunnel that Ferin and Liara had entered the room from. "Good timing, Garrus. Where's Miranda?"

"Here, Shepard."

Miranda emerged from a side door, her rifle resting casually on her chest rig.

"Don't think I've forgotten about the whole talking behind my back on secret radio channels thing, by the way. I'm giving you all a talking-to when we're back on the Normandy."

"Yes, yes. So what's going on, Commander?"

"Rachni have infested the majority of the station. There's some survivors holding out in the hot labs, and Benezia and armed asari and geth have fortified a position around the rachni queen that started all this."

"Oh, splendid. I was worried that this might be a simple mission for a change," Miranda said.

Garrus laughed. "I guess Shepard has a way of making sure that any mission is interesting, at least. Although I wonder if it's that she gets assigned the complicated missions, or she makes simple missions complicated."

Ashley sighed. "I spent ten years running around the Alliance doing grunt work. The instant I meet the colonel, suddenly everything gets all weird."

"And I'm an archeologist," Liara said. "I know you humans have some sort of fascination with warrior archeologists, but I am supposed to be a scholar, not your Indiana Croft."

"Jones. Indiana Jones. Or Lara Croft."

"Will you comedians shut up for a moment?"

"There's the bossy thing we were talking about," Miranda noted. "Getting more pronounced."

"Miranda..." Ferin said warningly.

"What?" she asked innocently. "You were explaining something about the rachni queen and asari. Hey, I think this place is starting to finally warm up."

Ferin ignored her. "Also, Mira - the VI, not the officer who's in serious danger of being fired right now - said something about a neutron purge being armed."

Garrus sighed heavily. "Great. As if we needed another reason to avoid touching...anything...in this place."

"It's fine, Garrus," Tali said. "We just have to avoid pressing big red buttons."

Liara frowned, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "These asari...can you describe them, Mira?"

"How would I-"

"Miranda, quiet," Ferin hissed. The VI started speaking as she leaned in with anticipation. "Error: unauthorized user attempting to access files under a different user's authority."

Ferin sighed. "Mira, can you describe the asari for me?"

"Certainly, Commander. Here is a video log."

The holographic image cut out and was replaced with the image of several asari, dressed in dark leather armor and carrying military-grade assault rifles and shotguns. They weren't doing much, just crouching and peering outwards. After a moment, the VI appeared again.

"Commandos," Liara said. "That's not good."

"Asari commandos have quite a reputation," Kaidan said. "Very dangerous. Very...flexible."

"It's a well-earned reputation. Asari commandos formed the backbone of the Spectres once. They still are an important part of it."

"And Benezia has quite a few of them here."

"Yes. That could be problematic."

"We can worry about the asari later. Right now we need to get over to the hot labs, and that means clearing out the tramway. Which as I understand is filled with rachni."

"Is that a problem? As I understand it, situations like this is why you brought me along - so the krogan can save everyone else."

"Okay, Wrex. Go do your thing. We'll just be over here thawing then."

"Garrus, cut it out. Wrex, Miranda, Liara, and I will go on ahead. You guys hold here and watch our backs."

"Fine."

Shaking her head, she lifted her rifle and gestured down the hallway. The other three formed into a small wedge with her at the front and started down the hall towards the trams. Now that the hallway was well-lit, they could see the carnage clearly. There were a few dead rachni in an adjacent room, where security mechs had apparently made a last stand - there were at least 20 or 30 LOKI mechs blown apart in the room. A researcher - decapitated by the rachni - sat propped up against one wall of the hallway, dried blood splatters across the wall and the floor. Some dismembered limbs lay scattered at the end of the hallway, the corpses of their owners nowhere to be seen. Ferin grimaced.

"Grisly."

"Guess the rachni aren't playing around."

Miranda rolled her eyes. "Really, Wrex? The corpses we were walking past earlier didn't tell you that?"

"Nah, those corpses just meant the rachni were getting feisty," Wrex said with a laugh. "The whole mutilation and dismembering thing, that means they're serious. Trust me, Miranda, I'm a krogan."

"Hmm." Ferin halted, cocking her head. "Well, that's interesting."

There was a sealed chamber - an airlock, filled with twenty or thirty rachni. When they saw the four soldiers, they scrabbled into a frenzy of action, trying to break through the glass and spitting acid.

"They _are_ enthusiastic, aren't they?" Miranda looked around. "Shepard, over here. Looks like that's a decontamination area."

Liara walked over, inspecting the controls. "There's a plasma purge. Let me just activate it..."

Jets of blue flame suddenly exploded into the decontamination chamber. There was a horrible screeching as the flames filled the chamber, obscuring the view of anything inside it. Wrex laughed.

"Rachni steak. Used to be a delicacy."

"I'm sure, Wrex. Alright, guys. Let's get a move on." She turned, talking into her radio. "Garrus, you there?"

"Yeah, Shepard. What's up?"

"Tram is clear. Meet up with us, we're crossing to the hot labs. Also, stow cold weather gear, it's getting warm in here and we won't need it."

"Copy. Moving."

While they waited, Miranda and Liara stripped their own cold weather gear off, stowing it in their rucksacks. A few minutes later, the rest of the squad had rejoined the small team. Ashley wrinkled her nose in disgust as they passed through the decontamination area.

"Fuck, that smells nasty. What the hell?"

"Plasma purge of a bunch of rachni," Miranda said casually. "Weak stomach, sergeant?"

"You wish, ma'am," Ashley said with a laugh that quickly turned into a grimace, having taken a large whiff of the charred corpses.

They boarded the tram and quickly began traveling. The ride was uneventful; the tram moved slowly and the tunnels they moved through were just basic tunnels. When the tram passed through the vacuum lock and docked, they hopped off to find the terminal on the other end completely abandoned. It looked almost post-apocalyptic; flickering lights, damaged wires sparking, blood spatters on the wall, bullet holes, although there were no corpses. Ferin idly wondered if the rachni dragged the bodies off or survivors did. All the doors leading out of the terminal were locked, except for one that led to an elevator to the security office and medical bay. Ferin checked her omni-tool. Luckily enough, the navpoint for the survivors was in the security office and med bay. They quickly climbed into the elevator, beginning the descent. A change from normal, no one started up a conversation, and they descended to the floor in complete silence. When the doors opened, they were greeted by the sight of about dozen rifles. Ferin raised her hands.

"Oh, what the-more survivors! Let them in, let them in!"

A middle-aged man pushed through the throng of guards to the front. "I...well, I don't recognize you. Who are you?" His eyes fell to the small insignia on Ferin's ceramic chest plate and the one on Miranda's right breast. "What's N7 doing here?"

"Who are you?"

"My name's Captain Ventralis. Used to be an Alliance Marine. Who are you?"

"I'm Colonel Shepard. I'm a Council Spectre. We're here investigating an asari who recently visited. We didn't anticipate the facility being this fucked up."

"A Spectre, eh? Well. I'd ask what a Spectre's doing here, but I'm not one to look a heavily-armed gift horse in the mouth. Anyway, we still have no idea what the hell happened. What asari are you talking about?"

"A matriarch. Benezia was her name."

"Oh, her. Yeah, she came sweeping in through here with a royal guard. A platoon of asari commandos. Didn't really talk to her much, just heard she was a guest investigating on behalf of one of the company's investors."

"What happened to her after the outbreak?"

"I don't know. There was so much chaos, it was all I could do to rally the guards and fall back to strongpoint this location."

She nodded. "How many guards do you have left?"

"You're looking at them. This is the only accessible entrance for the rachni, so we've been on constant guard duty here."

"You don't have a rotation?"

"We wouldn't have enough manpower to stop the rachni if some of us were asleep. As it is, we've been running on stims and medigel since the outbreak happened. I don't like it, but it's the only way for us to keep functional."

"You've done well, Captain. You mind if we look around your base? We need to look for clues about Benezia and locate her, as well as find a way to get rid of the rachni."

"Rachni is easy. The facility's got a neutron purge ready. Most of the rachni are still in the specimen holding area. If you activated it in that area, it'd get rid of most of the rachni and leave only a few left to contend with. I don't know about your asari, though. You can come in if you want."

"Thanks."

The squad filed in past the guards, who closed ranks behind them. They continued up through a small corridor, finding themselves in a large room. There were a few scientists in the room; some were lying down, some were talking, some were just sitting numbly. There was also an elcor and an asari in the room - the elcor was just standing there, the asari looked like a researcher, but was in a trance of some kind. Meditating, probably. Ferin turned to her squad.

"Alright, guys. Spread out, talk to people, see what you can learn. We need to find a way out of here. I'm going to look over the Captain's defense plan and see if I can't help him out a bit."

"Understood."

* * *

A couple hours later, Ferin had managed to help the guards shore up their barricades, although she had to agree that they couldn't take any men off of guard duty. It was obvious they were exhausted, though, and couldn't hold out much longer. She was sitting down, taking a short break, when Miranda tapped her on the shoulder.

"Mm...? What's up, Miranda?"

"Just reporting in. The scientists are pretty much shell-shocked, not really getting much useful out of them. Apparently, though, Saren is an investor in the company, and Benezia is his envoy."

"What's Saren investing for?"

"Not sure. There's a charming little asari over in the main room that I find suspicious. Not sure what it is about her, but she rubs me the wrong way. And there's a doctor who needs assistance. The rachni venom is causing some of their researchers unbearable agony, and Captain Ventralis won't let him use the research labs to brew an anti-toxin because the labs are under quarantine."

"Any threat?"

"The doctor says no, the aerial toxin has broken down by now. Regardless, he says he can tell us more about the asari if we help him out."

Ferin sighed. "Everyone always wants something."

"Yeah. Ventralis already gave us permission to enter if we want, but he won't let us leave unless we can prove the toxin is gone in there."

"Let's just get it over with. You, me, Liara. If the guards won't let us out, Tali can just hack the lock or something."

"Works for me."

They headed down to the lab. "So, synthesizing this cure. You know how to do it, Miranda?"

"Not really. I have the list of everything we're supposed to mix and in what quantities, I don't imagine it'll be that hard."

"Ugh. Liara, you're a doctor."

"Shepard, I've told you before, I'm not a medical doctor. I'm an archeologist!"

"Well, let's hope we don't fuck it up, then."

It took a few tries, but they managed to mix the solutions correctly and synthesize the cure as predicted by the notes on Miranda's omni-tool. The ingredients were somewhat odd, from Ferin's limited knowledge of medicine - for example, Hallix, a recreational drug - but the final solution was apparently the cure. Liara banged on the door.

"Let us back in, please."

There was no response. Miranda sighed. "Bloody guard's probably too terrified of this fictional toxin to let us back in."

"Why am I not surprised?," Ferin commented dryly. "Raise Tali, see if she can-"

The door opened abruptly. The scientist from before, the asari, walked in, a pistol in hand, flanked by several geth. Behind her, Ferin could see the corpse of the guard who was supposed to let them out, lying in a spreading pool of blood. Ferin immediately drew her pistol, pointing it at the scientist. On either side of her, Miranda and Liara did the same, the tell-tale purple glow of biotic energy appearing around them.

"I told you I had a bad feeling about her, Ferin," Miranda commented.

"Matriarch Benezia told me you might be coming. And now Saren can finally be rid of the poor fools who have been dogging him with such dedication. Attack!"

Ferin dove for cover as the geth opened up with automatic weapons, tackling Liara to the ground behind cover. Miranda threw a barrier up and rolled to the side, seeking cover behind a reinforced glass railing, although she couldn't stay for long - the plasma blasts the geth were firing were already starting to crack and melt the glass. The commando who'd been posing as a scientist charged forward in a biotic charge, smashing into the computer desk that Liara and Ferin were taking cover behind with the force of a hurricane. Ferin sailed backwards, crashing into a wall and collapsing on the ground, clutching her abdomen. She lost sight of Liara, but she saw Miranda step forward and swing her omni-blade out. It collided with the commando's barriers and exploded - a trick she'd seen more than one N7 use - sending the asari staggering backwards, stunned, as Miranda raised her Phalanx and fired several shots at the commando. She threw up a barrier and seemed to simply disappear in an explosion of purple energy, appearing several meters to the right and ducking behind cover, as Miranda rolled back behind a desk. Ferin grunted and staggered upright, activating her tactical cloak. Liara was somewhere to the right - a singularity had appeared in the doorway, tearing small bits of loose material from the walls, floor, and ceiling, and pulling three of the geth troopers inwards with its inexorable gravity. She quickly moved, drawing her sword as she did, appearing behind the asari commando and lashing out with a powerful one-handed strike from the blade. The asari choked, staring down in shock as Ferin buried the longsword up to its hilt in her back, the three foot blade appearing between her breasts. She fell to her knees, dropping the SMG she'd been wielding, as Ferin placed her foot on the woman's back and yanked the sword out, sheathing it in the same motion.

"Get down!"

The instant she heard Miranda shout, Ferin moved, throwing herself in a forward roll over the table the asari had been using for cover and ducking down behind it. A moment later, there was an explosion from the doorway, purple energy radiating outwards before dissipating suddenly. Ferin leaned out of cover to see the six geth had been killed instantly by the explosion. Miranda lowered her hand, a satisfied smile on her face. Liara winced, peeking out from behind the table she was hiding behind before she stood slowly, putting away her pistol.

"I love causing dark energy explosions," Miranda said. Ferin sighed. "Last time someone did that" - she threw a pointed glare at Liara - "I went deaf."

"That wasn't my fault, Shepard. Kaidan just has bad aim."

"I'll say," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that, Shepard?" Miranda had a barely concealed edge of mirth in her tone. Ferin sighed and stepped outside. A volus was standing, oddly calmly, out there, waiting for her. She cocked her head questioningly."

"My name is Han Olar. I saw what happened. The geth, the woman, they came through that door, there." He pointed to a locked door on the opposite side of the room. "But you can't get through without the authorization pass."

"Thanks. Who has an authorization pass?"

"Only Captain Ventralis and some of the higher ranking scientists. The synthetics. They killed the guard. I didn't even move. It was like her. I killed her too."

Ferin glanced over at Miranda. She just gestured towards the door with a quick jerk of her head.

"Thank you for the info. We'll need to go get a pass."

"Alright." The volus wandered away, leaving the three alone. Ferin glanced over Miranda. "What was wrong with him?"

"He blames himself for the death of one of his colleagues. She died while he escaped in a tram that he closed before she could reach him. He's...somewhat traumatized."

"I'll say," Ferin muttered. "Alright, high ranking scientists. Maybe that doc who asked us for the anti-venom. Let's go check it out."

* * *

The doctor was grateful for the antitoxin. Although surprised at first at their need to exit through the utility doors, he readily handed over his pass as thanks for their work helping save his patient's lives. Ferin reconsolidated quickly with the rest of the squad in the room where the volus had been standing, having a quick meeting out of earshot of others.

"The geth who attacked us came through there. Stands to reason we might be able to find a way to get to Benezia through there. I'm going to lead a team through to punch through, but I want a second team to find a way down into the hot labs and see if they can activate the neutron purge that Captain Ventralis mentioned earlier. Get rid of the rachni in the area."

"Who's going with you?"

"I'm taking Liara, Garrus, and Wrex. Miranda, you're in command of the second team."

"Roger that." The Australian operator frowned a little as she sat back, crossing her legs and sighing deeply.

"Let's get to it." Ferin stood and unslung her rifle, checking the bolt before glancing over at the team she'd picked. Liara was a bit paler than usual - she seemed nervous. Understandably, given that they were finally moving to confront her mother. Ferin knew that Liara had to come, though - even if she hadn't wanted to bring the archeologist, she would have forced her way along anyway. Garrus seemed sympathetic, if unsure of what to say or do. Even Wrex seemed somewhat less callous than usual. She knew that the old krogan had a soft spot for Liara. Really, he had a soft spot for all of them. He acted tough - and sure, he had genuinely disliked some of them to begin with, like Garrus - but as they'd spent time together, they'd eventually developed a rapport, if not a real friendship. She felt sympathy for Liara herself - even though she'd never had parents, she could understand what the young woman had to be going through. Before they left, Ferin turned to Miranda and her team.

"Be careful, Mira. I don't need to carry four charred corpses out because y'all got cooked by the neutron purge."

Miranda smirked. "No promises."

They slowly headed to the utility door and scanned the pass the doctor had given them. The door slowly slid open, its hydraulics hissing as they slowly pulled the door open. The tunnel behind the door was rocky and misty. It didn't seem to be a true part of the complex, but for whatever reason it was heated. They quickly moved through the tunnel, finding an airlock at the end of the rocky corridor. The encryption on the airlock was light, simple, easy to crack, and Garrus soon had them moving through the airlock. The next room was bathed with a pale blue light and appeared empty. There was a large, ferroglass cage in the center. Ferin couldn't see what was in it, but she had a feeling she could guess. The rachni queen that the VI had spoken about. And in front of it...an asari slowly walked forward. She was clad in a black dress and a strange ceremonial headdress, also black. Her face was ageless, but there was a certain sternness - hardness - in her eyes that seemed to betray her age. Her eyes passed over Liara without emotion, fixing on Ferin.

"So you have finally caught up with me. Saren has spoken of you."

"Why are you here?"

"You cannot stop us. No matter who you try to use against me." Her eyes flickered to her daughter again, but she still wore that unnervingly emotionless expression.

"Mother...what have you done?" Liara's eyes were wide with horror as she faced Benezia. She looked at Liara as she had been looking at Ferin. But her response had nothing to do with the question, just as she had with Ferin.

"You do not know the privilege of being a mother. There is power in creation. To shape a life...to guide it towards happiness...or despair."

"It's over, Benezia. We're here to take you into custody," Garrus said, raising his rifle. Benezia slowly shook her head. She looked back at Ferin. "Commander Shepard. Have you ever faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have."

Ferin glanced at Liara. "I'm sorry it came to this, Liara."

"I..." Liara froze where she was, purple energy running over her. Ferin tried to turn to Benezia, trying to see what was going on, but found herself frozen just the same. She assumed Wrex and Garrus were caught just as they were, as suddenly no one spoke. She caught sight of movement as a team of four asari, all clad in black armor, approached, their rifles drawn. They raised their weapons to fire when Liara somehow moved. Ferin was suddenly flung sideways, crashing to the ground in a heap along with Garrus and Wrex, as a hail of gunfire hissed through the air where they'd been. She staggered upright to see Liara taking cover behind some crates. Ferin ducked down as she heard the snap of a bullet a couple feet from her head and rushed to take cover. As she exchanged gunfire with the commandos, Liara rushed out and up the steps to where her mother stood, wreathed in dark energy and surrounded by a biotic barrier. Ferin lost sight of them; the asari were keeping the pressure up too well for her to move and check on Liara. It was all that she, Garrus, and Wrex could do just to keep the asari from being able to advance. They lived up to their reputation; leaning out for even a split second resulted in a barrage of deadly accurate gunfire and warp fields flying at her. It was a miracle - and the result of good shielding - that none of them had been wounded yet.

Still, it was a stalemate. The asari couldn't advance - a krogan at close quarters was an almost unstoppable opponent - but they had the team suppressed, preventing them from being able to fire accurately at their opponents. Ferin tried activating a tactical cloak and trying to flank them, but when they'd realized what she was up to, they'd laid down singularities blocking her routes and forcing her to remain where she was. They needed to break contact, raise Miranda's team and get them to reinforce them, but she wasn't able to contact them through the radio - there was too much interference from something - and they couldn't break while Liara was missing. As she considered their next move, there was suddenly the sound of what sounded like dozens of generators spinning up at the same time. Garrus and her glanced at each other in confusion as the generators suddenly stopped. A second later, there was a massive boom, the floor shaking and knocking all of them off their feet. _What the fuck? _She gave herself no time to think about it, though. The quake had surely knocked the commandos off balance as well, and gave her an opportunity that would be gone in seconds if she didn't seize it. She rolled out of cover to see the asari already springing upright. They were fast, she'd give them that.

"Frag out!" She threw two grenades as she rolled, allowing her momentum to carry her beyond the gap to Wrex's side of the walkway and back behind cover. The grenades arced nicely, landing among the asari and fragmenting into a dozen mini-grenades each, rolling about for a moment before they simultaneously detonated with an intense roar. The instant they heard the explosion, Garrus, Ferin, and Wrex all leaned out from cover, bringing their rifles to bear - Wrex remained standing, while Ferin crouched as she leaned out from behind him. Two of the asari had been fast enough to shield themselves from the blast with biotics. Of the other two...a pair of mangled bodies lay visible, one draped over the handrailing of the walkway, the other on the ground, missing both legs. The trio immediately opened fire on the two remaining commandos. One managed to fall behind cover, while the other was still dazed from the concussive blast wave of the grenades. Her barrier faltered and several bullets penetrated her armor, though none seemed to be kill shots as the asari spun and fell. The remaining asari shouted in anger at the loss of her comrades, but Ferin wasn't listening. She charged up to find Liara, ordering Garrus and Wrex to kill the remaining commando tersely. As Garrus dropped the bipod on his machine gun and started laying down a storm of suppressive fire, Ferin moved up the ramp to find Liara taking cover behind the railing of the walkway on the opposite. Her hands were empty, her pistol still holstered.

Ferin leaned out from her side, checking the large platform overlooking the ferroglass cage to see Benezia, glowing with dark energy. She ducked back behind cover as a warp field sailed past her face, then glanced over at Liara.

"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed as she readied her rifle. "Draw your weapon!"

"She's my mother, Shepard. Just let me talk to her, please!"

"We already tried and she nearly killed us," Ferin said through gritted teeth.

"Shepar-"

Ferin didn't listen as she leaned out of cover, her Crusader shotgun in her hands, and fired four rounds rapidly, ducking back behind cover as a warp field shredded the walkway where she'd leaned out. All four blasts impacted the matriarch's barriers, but her strength seemed undiminished. Wrex's voice sounded urgently from his position a couple dozen meters away.

"Shepard! Got more commandos! Geth, too!"

"Copy that! Hold them off!"

She turned to Liara.

"We don't have any more time, Liara."

"I..." her face was set in agonized refusal. Ferin knew she couldn't face the truth, but she had to. They needed her to get on line and start laying down fire as well. Ferin leaned out and fired another four blasts, this time causing Benezia to stumble backwards a step as she lost her balance.

"Shepard."

"Miranda?"

"Neutr...plete. Awai...ne...ders...te...ral...pos..."

"You're breaking up, Miranda. Say again?"

"En...to...or...pos..."

"Fuck," Ferin muttered. From her belt she pulled a frag grenade, glancing over at Liara as she did so. Liara still looked torn, still looked agonized. Ferin shook her head and threw the grenade in a beautiful arc...but too far, she could already tell. The trajectory would carry it past the boundary. As she started to pull another grenade, a singularity suddenly appeared behind Benezia. Ferin turned to see the dark energy fading around Liara, her teeth gritted. She looked back at Benezia, who was using her biotics to avoid the gravitational pull as she started to advance. But the grenade was affected. It changed its arc dramatically, slamming into the singularity. The instant it did, Liara released a shockwave of biotic energy that knocked Ferin onto her back, draining her shields in an instant. The singularity, struck by the wave, exploded, just milliseconds after the grenade did. Shrapnel flew at such high speeds that it tore holes through the ceiling, walls, and floor. Benezia was propelled forward, her barriers collapsing in an instant from the biotic detonation and the grenade, falling several meters away between Liara and Ferin.

"Mother!"

Liara rushed to the fallen matriarch's side, turning her over onto her back. Ferin kept her Crusader pointed firmly at the matriarch's head as she advanced, standing opposite Liara.

The matriarch opened eyes, seeing her daughter and hearing gunfire. There was a great confusion visible in her eyes, then she winced. Something seemed different in her. Where once her features seemed to evoke cruelty and dispassion, her features now seemed kind and gentle, though Ferin couldn't see what had really changed in her face.

"Liara...you must...stop Saren."

"Mother?"

"I...his ship, Sovereign. You must not approach it. It...it does things to your head. It worms its way in and makes you not who you are."

"Stay with me, please."

"I...cannot. Whatever he has done to me, I cannot undo it. It is like...it is like watching through a window at yourself as you commit atrocities, beating on the glass as your hands murder and torture. I...Saren forced me to tear memories...the location of the Mu Relay...from the rachni queen. I was not...gentle." Her eyes widened and she cried as pain twisted her face into a tortured expression. She seemed to recover, though her face looked worn and haggard. Ferin, despite herself, felt pity for Benezia - she was clearly a regal figure, someone who had power, influence, but temperance, mercy, and a kind heart. Yet she had been twisted by Saren, distorted into someone she was not. It was obvious the indoctrination affected her powerfully - the facial expressions Ferin had seen in the span of less than a minute had gone from confusion to joy to pain to exhaustion. Ferin didn't understand it, how a ship could turn you against everything you held dear, your own family, but she didn't doubt that it could do it after seeing Benezia. How do you fight something like that? Ferin shook her head.

"I...cannot hang on...I can feel myself slipping..."

Liara, her eyes wide with horror, shook her head, exclaiming, "Mother, no! Stay with me!"

"I...cannot." Benezia gasped again as she spasmed, dark energy gathering around her and lifting her levitating slightly in the air, her arms at her sides and her toes slightly off the ground, every muscle rigid and pained. Though her face was contorted in pain, she managed to fix her eyes on her daughter. "I...love you, Little Wing. You've always made me proud!" She gasped her last words, before her head fell back, her body going limp for an instant. When she looked forward again, her face had returned to a completely neutral expression. She locked eyes with Liara, her feet lightly being lowered and touching the ground. The cruelness and dispassion that Ferin had noted before had returned, and her voice held no trace of emotion as she made a fist, biotic energy swirling around. "Die!"

Ferin didn't hesitate, shouldering the shotgun and firing four blasts. The first struck the matriarch full in the head, snapping it backwards. The next three struck lower, in her chest, the second sufficing to shatter the matriarch's barrier, and the third and fourth striking cloth and skin. Benezia staggered backwards, clutching her chest, which had been shredded by the blasts; bluish purple blood splattered the ground and dripped from the asari's wound. She fell backwards into a sitting position against a panel at the end of the platform, her head falling forward as her hands fell away from the ruined tissue. Liara ran to her side, kneeling beside her mother. Benezia gasped three more times, her eyelids fluttering as she struggled to hang onto life, her daughter's arms wrapped around her. Then, with one last shuddering exhalation, the Matriarch breathed her last, slumping against Liara's shoulder.

Ferin forced herself to turn away from the emotional scene to see how the battle with the commandos was going. Garrus had set up a suppressive fire position, with Wrex taking over every time the turian had to reload his machine gun. Still, he had gone cyclic on the enemy, pouring rounds downrange as fast as he could. He had fired so many rounds that the barrel of his weapon had heated to the point that it was glowing and melting. Miranda's voice came over the radio again.

"Command...Shepard. Trying to...tact you...minutes. Friendlies...ing...northeast. Shift fire...we can enter."

Ferin glanced to the northeast. It was a position behind the asari and geth who were keeping their heads down. While there seemed to be no asari beyond the ones they'd already killed, about a dozen geth bodies littered the ground in front of them. It seemed that the geth were just cannon fodder, throwing their lives away against the withering fire that Garrus and Wrex had laid down.

"Roger, Shadow 1-1. Enter in five seconds."

"Affirma..."

She turned to Wrex and Garrus, signaling with her hand. She didn't want to warn the asari of the impending flanking attack as she crouched behind cover and waved her hand from right to left, the palm facing her; for them, the signal meant shift fire. Both warriors immediately shifted their fire to the left, the direction of her signal, and started firing twenty meters to the left of the asari. Two seconds later, Kaidan stepped through the door and to the right, Miranda immediately on his heels and moving left. They immediately started firing at the asari, who, to their credit, were extremely fast in their reaction. They threw up barriers in the walkway and started falling back, creating new barriers as they continued backwards. The geth were not so lucky, as the asari left them behind in their haste to break contact; the geth tried to take cover, but Miranda and Kaidan were too fast on their triggers and put five or six rounds in each geth, dropping them immediately. Tali and Ashley were next in the hallway, seeking cover and firing at the retreating asari.

Ferin turned back to see Liara still cradling her mother's body, tears running down her cheeks. She glanced back at Garrus and Wrex.

"Wrex, security on the opposite side of this platform." The krogan nodded, standing up and striding up the steps, across the platform, and down the far side steps, his steps echoing through the room and shaking the platform. "Garrus, change the barrel on that weapon and cover our six."

"Understood."

She quietly moved over to Liara, taking the asari by her shoulder and pulling her insistently but gently away from the body.

"Hey, hey. Liara. Come on, you don't need to see this, okay? It's going to be okay."

Liara accepted the embrace. She wasn't sobbing, but tears were flowing slowly from the corners of her closed eyes. After a moment, she pulled away from the embrace. "I am fine, Shepard. We...should find out what the rachni queen knows."

"Yeah." She walked over to the confinement tank, frowning as she observed the large rachni inside. Visually, it was no more distinct than the other rachni. It had multiple eyes and a curved body, supported by four legs and with two hooked hands. Two massive, extremely long and muscular antennae with barbed hooks on the end protruded from it, and its mouth was a wicked looking pair of pincers. It waved its antennae calmly as it waited.

"What the-"

"Contact!"

Ferin spun, pulling her pistol out as she saw an asari, her eyes wide open and her head tilted at an odd angle, stumble forward along the walkway that had been the site of the stalemate earlier. Her body was a mess of pulped flesh and torn, bloody skin. Her armor was shredded to pieces by shrapnel, and her left arm had been severed at the wrist. Wrex and Miranda both opened fire, hitting the asari several times, but she didn't even seem to respond. Both lowered their weapons, backing away and glancing at each other. The asari's mouth opened, words coming out with a harsh rasp.

"A...human. Have you come...to free me?"

"Are you...the rachni queen?" Ferin asked, warily keeping her pistol pointed at the asari's head.

"I am...the mother. But men...they come and take the children away...so that I cannot sing to them. In the black silence...they go mad without the colors of my song. The children are...no longer of us. They would...tear flesh and drink blood...even of me." The rachni's antennae twitched more frantically than normal. "But your...female...has already given the children...the great silence. Have you come...to free me as well...human?"

Kaidan stepped up beside her, raising an eyebrow. "We...don't really know the whole story, Ferin. The rachni wars happened long before we got here. I don't think we should get ourselves involved in a centuries old feud."

"I concur," Miranda said. "Besides which, I'm sure the Alliance or Cerberus could make good use of studying the rachni. They were an extremely intelligent species and we could gain a lot by studying them."

Tali threw in her support as well. "And we shouldn't be so quick to condemn a species to extinction. They've lost their homes and their people, but every species deserves a second chance. We don't know anything real about the rachni."

With a snort, Wrex shook his head. "We had to put down the rachni for the galaxy once, already. We should just end it and be done with it, or we'll have to clean the mess up again when the rachni start getting uppity."

"Regardless of the cost? Wiping out an entire species is genocide, Wrex," Tali said. "You don't know that they can't be produc-"

"I do know! The lizards tried negotiating with the rachni before they needed us to destroy their enemy. It never worked. That's why they had us clean up their mess!"

"Oh, and I suppo-"

"I suppose that since you feel so strongly about not wiping out entire species, you wouldn't mind making peace with the geth, wouldn't you?" Wrex cut her off.

"That is completely different!"

"Oh, how is that?"

"Wrex, you're being unreasonable," Miranda interjected, trying to restore some placidity into the conversation. "The potential benefits of studying the rachni and perhaps finding a way to communicate with them outweigh the risks. One queen isn't going to destroy the galaxy, not least because she knows that if she dies, her race dies with her."

"Ma'am, that's all good and well, but I joined the Alliance to protect innocent people like my sisters from monsters, not unleash more of them on the galaxy."

"Ashley, you're not considering the big picture."

"I guess that's because enlisted soldiers look at common sense, while officers live in some fairy tale land. We all know what the rachni did once as a species. What's to say they'll change? Last time, they refused to surrender to the point that their world burned in nuclear fire and they still didn't surrender until the last one was wiped out."

"Ashley, all we know is what the galaxy has told us about the rachni. We don't know what happened. Humanity can't embroil itself in galactic feuds between species without more information than what the winning side said," Kaidan said.

"LT, with all due respect, if I went back to World War II, I wouldn't spare the Axis because the only thing we know about WWII comes from the Allied perspective."

"It's not the same, it's-"

"All academic. The damned thing is here, let's just kill it," Wrex rumbled."

"You can't-"

Ferin sighed. "Enough." The other stopped bickering and looked at her. She turned to the corpse of the asari, wincing at the smell as the puppet swayed, waiting for her word.

"What happened? Why did the rachni turn on the rest of the galaxy?"

"I...do not know. The memories...they are grey with fear and madness. Something twisted our songs of violet and red, changed them into shrieking crimson and grinding metal. We could not stop."

"If I release you-"

Wrex started forward, raising his voice. Miranda grabbed him by the arm and with strength disproportionate to her slender frame - once again revealing that beneath the woman's perfect exterior was something superhuman - yanked him backwards. He stumbled a step, snapping his head around to fix his red eyes on her with a ferocious glare. She returned it without flinching. After a moment, he grimaced and pulled his arm out of her grasp. Ferin ignored the brewing argument and looked at the rachni queen.

"If I release you, what will you do?"

"Flee. Seek the harmonious reds and hide, somewhere safe where I can sing to my children."

"You will not trouble the galaxy?"

"Never."

"I need to know where the Mu Relay is. The information that the asari took from you."

"I can...show you where the singing gates are. But release me!"

"I will release you. Liara, see if you can get the information from her."

"Yes, Commander." The asari was quiet - still mourning, Ferin knew - as she stepped forward, waiting for the rachni queen to be released. Ferin pulled the lever, opening the cage. After a moment, the rachni - hesitantly started out of the cage, stopping at the bottom to briefly touch Liara. The gentle brush caused Liara to jolt as though struck with electricity, then slowly look at the rachni queen with an expression of wonder. Ferin cocked her head with interest as the queen briefly paused, looking at her. The asari's corpse opened its mouth again.

"Thank you." With that, the queen returned her eyes to the door and scurried away, vanishing quickly. The asari's corpse slumped and collapsed without the queen's will to keep it upright. Wrex growled, shaking his head.

"They get out of line again, and we'll have to clean up the mess for the galaxy again. Only this time we won't want to."

"Relax, Wrex," Garrus said. "They won't risk it. If nothing else, the rachni are smart."

"Hmph. Anything else we need from here, Shepard?"

Ferin turned in a circle, looking around the facility. "What happened to the asari commandos?"

"Don't know," Garrus said with a shrug. "They're like ghosts. There's a reason commandos are famous around the galaxy."

"Miranda?"

She looked around. "They broke contact and managed to slip away. I doubt they'll be back, they saw Benezia die. They'll probably try to escape the planet as soon as possible and report back to their next commander."

"Okay. What happened in the hot labs?"

"Ran into some scientist with the authorization codes for the neutron purge. He didn't make it, but we managed to trigger to purge. Facility should be mostly clear of rachni. There'll undoubtedly be a few more, but nothing that the NDC or the guards can't handle."

"And the all-clear got sounded. So no risks of a strafing run destroying the facility anymore," Ashley said. "I think we're clear to go, skipper."

"Alright. Radio the Normandy and tell them to get Parasini to send us some shuttles to get out of here. Eh...don't mention the whole rachni queen thing."

"Roger that." Ashley turned away, her hand against her ear as she started to speak to the Normandy.

"You guys take care of the corpses and whatnot. I need to talk to Liara." The remainder of the crew moved away, murmuring among themselves as they walked away. Ferin descended the steps to where Liara was still standing, looking after the rachni queen.

"Liara."

"Shepard. What is it?"

"You alright?"

"Yes. I'm fine," she said with a much more firm tone than she normally used. After a moment, she added, "I'm glad that we let the rachni queen go. After seeing her memories...there is far more to that race than we ever thought."

"What do you mean?"

"They way they see the world...it's beautiful. Every color is a note of a song, every note a vibrant color."

"Mm."

"I don't know how to describe it...but I did get the location of the Mu relay from the queen."

"Good. Liara..."

"Yes, Shepard?"

"I'm sorry about your mother. I...wish it could have ended another way."

Liara slowly shook her head, refusing to look at Ferin. "It...was for the best. I have my memories of who she was. A beautiful, kind-hearted soul. Not the twisted monster Saren created of her."

"And at the end, she loved you so much she was able to resist whatever control Saren had over her."

"Yes. Thank you, Shepard."

"Still, it can't be easy."

"Could it ever be?"

"I guess not. If you ever need someone to talk to, Liara...I'll be free."

"I know. But I'll be fine, Shepard. Thank you."

With a brief touch of Liara's arm, Ferin returned to where the others were. Kaidan tapped her on the shoulder.

"Shuttles are coming, Commander. We're good to go."


	9. Chapter 9: Paradise Found

On board the Normandy, Liara had returned to the medical bay and was asleep. She was understandably emotionally wrecked, and Ferin had no wish to intrude. The others had gone about their business as usual, although things were still strained between her and Kaidan after his whole attempted "intervention" with her and her sleeping pills. And she still needed to counsel Ashley about the alcohol thing. She had thought Ashley was doing well with her psychological issues after Eden Prime, but maybe she'd been wrong. Losing an entire company wasn't the sort of thing you forgot - Ferin knew that from experience. Even today, Akuze still haunted her. Still, there was no reason not to be pleased with events so far. They were closing in on Saren. He could keep on running; she would run him to the ground. Ferin sighed, stretching and leaning back in her chair, turning away from the computer. Three knocks came on her door. Before she could respond, it opened, Miranda walking in casually.

"Could've waited for permission," Ferin said.

"Could've. I wasn't in a particularly courteous mood after you made me update the Council on what happened on Noveria."

"Hey, you're my XO."

"Yes, and they spent the first ten minutes of the meeting complaining that I was the one who was talking to them. The next thirty minutes was some variation of 'You freed the rachni?!' in shock and horror."

"Sounds about right. Then they forgave us and gave us more intel, yeah?"

"Yes."

"Right, so what's up?"

"Well, disturbing news, actually. They lost contact with a...Captain Kirrahe on Virmire about sixty hours ago. The last transmission they got involved the STG base coming under attack. They want us to go rescue them and storm Saren's facility."

"Why? We know where Saren wants to go, how to get there, and what he's searching for there. We could just go to Ilos."

"The Council believes that this is more important. They're ordering you to go to Virmire."

"Great," Ferin sighed."Anything else?"

There was a slight hesitation in Miranda's demeanor, that was very obvious in the normally cocky and self-assured officer. "Yes ma'am. Admiral Hackett wants us to investigate the disappearances of multiple scientists in the Newton nebula. One's been disappearing per standard month for the last year and a half. Another vanished yesterday."

"So we've got 27 more days til the next one disappears."

"Yes, ma'am. However, Admiral Hackett also was insistent that Citadel tasks involving Saren are more important."

Ferin sighed. "Alright. Tell Joker to set a course for Virmire."

"Roger that, Commander."

"In the meantime, I need to talk to Ashley."

Miranda nodded and turned, leaving her room. With a stretch, Ferin stood up and headed out as well, moving down to the armory to find Ashley, who was cleaning weapons as usual. Garrus and Wrex were playing cards with Tali and Chief Engineer Adams over in the corner, and the raucous laughter and calls echoed across the cargo bay as she made her way over to Ash. When the woman saw the officer, who was still wearing her ACUs, she turned and snapped to attention, saluting smartly. Ferin raised an eyebrow as she returned the salute swiftly, then crossed her arms, regarding the sergeant. Ash swallowed, still standing at attention.

"At ease, Williams."

Ashley moved to at ease and looked at Ferin, though she didn't meet her gaze. Ferin waited for a moment impatiently. When it became clear no response was forthcoming, Ferin sighed with irritation.

"Well?"

"I knew you were going to come talk to me, ma'am."

"Of course I was damn well going to talk to you. Drunk on duty? I don't give a damn if you're going to pass the fuck out while you're off-duty, but when I give orders, they're followed."

"Yes ma'am."

"So?"

"I...have no excuse, ma'am."

"Cut the hooah bullshit, sergeant," Ferin said with a sigh, rubbing her temple. "Talk to me."

"I...don't have a good reason, ma'am. I just...try to...I don't want to sound like the excuse-makers, the cat sixes who have a reason for every failing of theirs that wasn't their fault. It was my fault, ma'am. I just...I can't handle my shit anymore."

"And?"

Ash looked pained as she seemed to be trying to restrain herself. Suddenly, her self-restraint seemed to collapse and words just poured forward. "I keep thinking about my soldiers. There was an E-3. Private Bhatia. She was only 22, just entering her life, she had a husband. They were going to start a restaurant on Earth, together, and they loved each other so much. She'd play a recording of his voice every night before she went to sleep. She was going to college after she served, with the extra money, and she was smart. So smart, she used to argue about quantum physics with corporal, Sakhr. She trusted me so much, she had complete faith in my leadership. And then she died on Eden Prime, a goddamned massive fucking geth just extinguished her life like it was nothing. And all the others, every one of them. It's my fault they're gone. Even at the end, I couldn't save Prentiss and Nietrom. It was all my fault-"

Ferin shook her head, raising a hand to try and cut her off. "Williams. Stop. Listen to me."

"I..." she stopped, panting. Her eyes were a little teary as she looked up at the Commander.

"Nothing of what happened on Eden Prime was your fault. You think you're the first leader in the military to lose soldiers in combat? I have. Major Lawson has. LT Alenko has. Is it our faults? No. You can play all your cards right, you can make every right call, but that doesn't matter sometimes. Firefights are random. You can't control who lives and who dies, who gets hit and who doesn't. Stop recriminating yourself for your actions. I read the after-action reports, I saw what MI managed to salvage from the dead geth and the fallen soldiers. You're a hero, Ash. You're a good leader."

"I don't believe th-"

"I don't give a damn. Have you been talking to Doc Mitchell about this stuff?"

"I...no, ma'am."

"What have you been talking to Doc Mitch about?"

"Seeing geth around. Husks."

"And do you actually see them?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"But not how you feel about your men?"

"No, ma'am."

"Look, Ash. I'm going to lay it out straight and plain. The only person who can help you through this is you. If you're not going to be honest with Doc Mitchell, you're not going to fix yourself. I've told you before you need to get your mind straight. We need you at the top of your game. If not, I'm going to have to transfer you to another command or recommend that you receive a CAT 5."

There were multiple types of discharges for soldiers in the Alliance military. Categories 1 to 3 were for officers; 1 was honorable separation from service, 2 was administrative or medical, and 3 was dishonorable. 4-7 were for enlisted personnel, and were similar; CAT 4 was honorable, CAT 5 was administrative or medical, CAT 6 was dishonorable. CAT 7 was for basic training washouts; failed initial entry training. Administrative or medical discharges weren't necessarily the end of the galaxy for those who received them like dishonorables were, but any kind of discharge that was other than honorable caused most employers to question them. It wasn't an idle threat; Ferin was completely willing to sign the paperwork to discharge Ashley if she believed that the NCO couldn't hack it anymore, but she wasn't ready to resign herself to discharging Ash yet. Still, sometimes you needed a stick as well as a carrot to get a stubborn mule to start moving.

"I...are you serious, ma'am?"

"Yes. Look, we're friends, Ash. Everybody on the squad is a friend of mine. But I have to take into account the mission as well. We can't succeed if some of us aren't focusing. If they're getting drunk on duty. Consider this your last chance."

"I..."

"And talk to Doc Mitchell. If you're not honest with him, he can't help you. And if he can't help you, I can't help you."

Without waiting for a response, Ferin turned and left, leaving the gunnery chief standing where she was, her shoulders slumped.

* * *

On the crew deck, Ferin grabbed a can of Coke and a plate of cold leftovers from last night's meal - steak with refried beans, broccoli, and potatoes. The chow on the Normandy was never well-cooked, but it was always adequate. She sat down at one of the tables and started eating alone; there were a few servicemen at a different table, but they were all junior enlisted. She'd finished the potatoes when Kaidan approached, sitting across from her.

"Yeah, Kaidan?"

"Not much. We haven't had much time to talk lately, figured I'd come see you."

"Uh huh."

"I heard you were pretty rough on Ashley."

"Did you?"

"Yeah. You're not really going to discharge her, are you?"

"Not if she gets her act together."

They fell into a kind of silence as she continued eating, Kaidan watching in silence. She could tell he wanted to broach the subject of the sleeping pills again. She preempted him.

"Look, Kaidan, I appreciate that you're concerned about me, okay? But I don't need to be taken care of. I'm goddamned N7, you know. I know every guy has a 'I will protect you' thing for women that he's with, but seriously. I can handle myself."

"I know, Ferin. I'm not saying that you can't. I just...I care about you."

"Yeah. Like I said, I appreciate it. I didn't mean to go off on you earlier. Just been under a lot of stress."

He smiled. "It's fine." They lapsed into silence again. Things had been awkward with Kaidan ever since that night she'd really opened up to him. She wasn't sure what it was, really. But she didn't like it. She missed the way they'd been before, able to just joke and talk casually about anything. Their relationship had shifted, but it seemed like more than it had shifted. He was treating her differently, there was no doubt about it, and that was what bothered her. He was a good man. Her read on him had always been that he was a thoughtful, introverted man. Intelligent, funny when he got social, and a deep thinker. But since she'd gotten involved with him, he was also very protective. She remembered his story about the turian and the girl at Brain Camp, where the turian had been about to beat the girl and he'd forced the turian to stop and broken his neck. Overprotective.

"Hey, listen, Kaidan," she said as she rose to dispose of her dirty dishes. "I'm glad you're with me, okay?"

He turned his head to her, an expression of slight surprise on his face. "I am, too," he said, his voice taking on that slightly husky tone she was so familiar with. She smiled at him, then put away her tray and headed back up the stairs to the bridge. Miranda was standing by the galaxy map, a half-frown on her face as her finger idly swirled in the hologram of stars. She looked up when Ferin approached and raised her hand.

"Ferin. Joker says that we'll be at Virmire in around an hour. No other transmissions from the salarians. We're going in blind."

"What do we know about Virmire?"

"It's a pretty enough planet. S-2 shop says that it's a garden world, very lush and tropical. Plenty of native life - none to the point of rudimentary civilization, however - and mostly covered in water, a lot like Earth, though much warmer. Similar to Earth, about 80% of its mass, 22.3 hour days, about the same pressure outside, breathable atmosphere." She checked the datapad that had been lying on the console beside her. "Let's see...proximity to Terminus systems means no colonization efforts have been made. Too unstable, too much piracy. A pity, since between the 40 degree latitudes it's perfectly tropical, and the rest of the planet is temperate, with small ice caps. Our destination is located...here." Miranda manipulated the galaxy map, turning it into a 3D representation of Virmire, and pointed at a location near its center." Grid zone is tango hotel. Salarians reported their last patrol base's location was...TH 58224611. Nothing yet. The facility that we have interest in is located in TH 5426. And a hurricane's due for the area soon. The S-4 wants us to deploy with a platoon of Marines in Makos and move out to the salarian base."

"But not you?"

"No. I think we need to drop with a small team and recon. Avoid alerting enemy forces, avoid enemy contact. We both know stealth is a force multiplier," Miranda said. "They'll know there's an unknown ship in orbit - and indications are that the base does not have orbital defense cannons - but they won't be able to locate us if we do an orbital drop and move fast."

Ferin nodded. "We'll need scans of the planet before we can move in. And of the drop zone."

"Yes, Commander."

"Anything else, Mira?"

"No, Commander. Wait...there's been some solar flare activity that may be interfering with electronics on the surface, and no satellites are in orbit, so there's no GPS available."

"No problem. Grab your long haul ruck, Mira. We'll be down there for a while."

"Roger that. I'll grab your pack too, Em. Let me guess...Valiant, Valkyrie, Legion, and decorative sword?"

"It's not decorative. But yes."

Miranda laughed. They'd had the argument in the past about the functionality of the sword. "Who do you want to take with us?"

"Tap Garrus and Kaidan. I want the others to stay as a QRF along with 1st and 2nd Platoon."

"Roger that."

* * *

The next hour passed rapidly as Ferin changed into her armor and inspected her equipment to ensure all of it was in working order. Her pre-packed ruck had a ton of equipment in it - food supplies, a sleeping bag, a poncho, rope, synthetic string, flex-cuffs, and a weapon cleaning kit in addition to the usual supplies needed - hygiene kit, extra ammo, and the like. She'd also tossed an N7 Raven SMG into her pack - the weapon was based off of the M-7 Punisher that had been designed by the Blood Pack, but possessed a faster firing rate, more accuracy, and higher caliber rounds. Like the Punisher, it looked extremely like an MP7 from the old days, and fired one armor-piercing round per three regular rounds of ammunition. It kicked hard, but for room-clearing and close quarters, Ferin thought there was nothing better. She'd packed it after some hesitation, reasoning that it could be useful in Saren's facility. When she met the other team members, they'd equipped themselves according to the roles they needed fulfilled in the team.

Miranda was their tech specialist; though she was well-rounded overall and more effective at combat than any other abilities, her specialized training as an N7 Demolisher had trained her in the use of a lot of tech on the battlefield. Given her unique background, she still wasn't as good with technology as most Demolishers or even Tali, but she was a also a weapon master and a biotics expert. Ferin was confident she could handle most of the tech they'd encounter. In keeping with her role, she wasn't carrying too many weapons - she had an N7 Raven and an N7 Valkyrie.

Garrus was providing support, as usual. She'd seen him on the Normandy's range using a Raptor sniper rifle, and it was impressive. The turian was an extremely effective shot with both heavy weapons and sidearms, and his expertise with weaponry was almost to the level of expertise most Special Operations units had. For the first time since he'd boarded the ship, he'd selected non-turian weapons, commenting that humans had a knack for weaponry. He'd grabbed an M-117 N7 Typhoon light machine gun, a heavy but devastating machine gun. It was customized with a lot of internal heat sinks and cooling systems that meant that even without thermal clips, it could fire off about a hundred and fifty rounds before it overheated. Then the weapon's side vents would automatically open and the heat sinks would dispense the heat and cool off, before it could fire again. With a full speed-loader of six thermal clips inserted, the weapon could fire off six hundred rounds without a reload or ever letting go of the trigger; it operated by dispensing the heat from the first and second rounds fired into the built-in heat sinks, and the heat from the third into the thermal clips. The cycle repeated while the weapon continued firing, and the vents were constantly releasing the heat from the sinks, allowing for immense amounts of sustained fire. If fired in small bursts, the weapon could be fired almost indefinitely if its user was careful. The weapon also featured a built-in bullet shield and kinetic shielding, which doubly protected its user if he was in the prone, firing the heavy caliber 7.62 rounds. Garrus had also selected an N7 Widowmaker sniper rifle and an N7 Raven, providing him with both extreme long range and close quarters capabilities, though his load-out was extremely heavy - his weapons alone weighed fifty pounds.

Finally, Kaidan was the defense specialist. He would provide them with barriers, shield pylons, and omni-shields in combat to give them cover and protection. He was carrying a simple loadout - an M-8 Avenger assault rifle and an M-5 Phalanx pistol, though his ruck was extremely heavy compared to the others, as it had all the gear they had, plus shield pylons. They were all wearing hard suits with breather helmets - while they'd be jumping into an extremely humid and hot environment, to start with, they'd be leaping from orbit. They'd also dressed accordingly. Ferin was wearing a set of armor that was painted in her favorite camouflage pattern, MultiCam, with more heavy accents on the greens. Kaidan and Garrus had similarly changed into camouflaged patterns, and even Miranda had acquiesced, putting on an actual set of armor for a change, painted the same way as Ferin's. She'd still stowed her usual outfit in her ruck, however. They'd taken their gear down to the cargo hold, which had been emptied in preparation for the orbital drop, and waited in their hardsuits as they entered the "ceramic coffins" that they'd use to drop, Garrus and Kaidan with a little nervousness. Orbital drops were always terrifying if you hadn't done them since airborne school. Still, they were actually pretty safe. All you had to remember to do was engage the parachute when it was time to, and hope that you didn't sweat too much from the heat as you descended. Ferin looked around the cushioning she was lying in, making sure her arm had space to pull the chute and engage the thusters, then settled in. In the silence, her breaths were loud to her ears.

Finally, she heard Joker. "Insertion in five...four...three...two...one..."

The familiar metallic thunks came as the drop boxes were released from their clamps, and the hydraulic hiss of the loading bay ramp being lowered. A moment later, she was hurtling through space, spinning dizzily as the boxes fell towards the planet surface, computer systems automatically correcting the flight with propulsion tanks to ensure they landed within at least ten kilometers of their drop zone. It wasn't long before Ferin heard the roar and felt the shaking as the box began to enter the atmosphere of Virmire. She knew that from the ground, it would look like a comet was about to impact Virmire. She glanced up at the computer monitor to examine her trajectory. She'd be around 2 kilometers off, not too bad. She was falling at terminal velocity now, and was approaching the lower edge of the safe altitude for parachute deployment. She quickly deployed the chute, feeling her teeth snap together and her body jar as the parachute instantly began to slow her down. A few seconds later, the drop box impacted the ground with a massive boom that shook Ferin's bones again, colliding at almost 120 meters per second. Ferin shook off the concussive effect - most had been absorbed by the box, and opened the drop box, stepping outside gingerly.

It was blessedly warm. Not like Noveria or Feros, where it'd been freezing. Not like Therum, where it'd been blistering hot. But warm like the days of her youth, in Georgia in the United States. And it was breathtakingly beautiful. The box had slammed into the top of a cliff, and she was looking out over a gorgeous landscape. Crystal clear, glittering water, waves gently rolling into a beach of iridescent white sand. The clifftop she stood on was burnt and smashed around where the drop pod had collided, but outside of the crash radius, there was soft dirt with brilliantly green grass and palm trees gently swaying in the sea breeze. There were valleys cut through the cliffs that were filled with shallow, maybe ankle-deep water, just as clean and pristine as the ocean itself. It was in its truest sense a tropical paradise. The sky was a clear azure, with a few lazily drifting white clouds overhead, and as she watched, several birds took off from the trees, roaring as they flew out over the ocean. She shook her head in amazement, then turned back to the drop box. _Focus._ She grabbed her weapons and rucksack, throwing them on, then turned and started trudging down the opposite side of the cliff. It was glorious, the temperature was perfect. If it weren't for the threat of pirates, it'd be a beautiful place to retire to some day. Better than Eden Prime, even. For the time being, though, the priority was hitting the rally point. She took the breather helmet off, delinking it from her armor and turning while touching her earpiece.

"Shadow 0-2, 0-3, 0-4. Disposition?"

"Shadow 0-2 is good."

"0-3 good."

"0-4 bad landing. Stuck at the top of a butte. Climbing down will take some time." That was Garrus; of course, he was carrying the heaviest load and so hadn't packed rope or any climbing equipment, trying to keep his load as light as possible.

"Affirmative, 0-4," Ferin said, shaking her head in frustration. "You have any idea where you ended up?"

Since Virmire lacked satellites, there was no GPS available for them to plot routes or instantly know where they were. They had aerial maps of the planet on their omni-tools and helmet visors, but that was it; it was up to them to figure out where they were based on terrain, just like back before satellites had existed on Earth. Luckily, compasses worked fine, although the direction of rotation and travel of Virmire around its star meant that the sun rose in the west and set in the east. Still, it was pretty similar to Earth, which Ferin was thankful for.

"Um...best estimate from maps puts me at TH 50497301."

"Roger that. New rally point is at 0-4's position."

"Copy."

"On the way."

Ferin sighed, hiking her rucksack up higher on her back, and checked the map, looking around for terrain features around her. Cliffs, several spurs of rock, sharp drops...she found a likely looking coastline on the map that matched her position, and quickly drew an distance and azimuth to move to the new position. It was to the southeast, eleven kilometers. It'd take forty-five minutes or so to get there, she guessed. She looked around one last time, then began jogging off into the distance, her rifle held at the low ready as she moved along the loose dirt. Before long, the sea breeze began to die off and sweat covered her body as she moved through the humid heat; after all the time spent on Noveria, her body had gotten acclimated to the cold, unfortunately. Although the heat was familiar and pleasing, it was also overwhelming for her body at the moment. Ferin found herself glad she'd removed her helmet and stowed it in her ruck, as the slight wind that was blowing as she moved further away from the ocean cooled her somewhat.

Her estimate proved accurate, as she arrived at Garrus' position in just over forty minutes to find him descended partially from the butte. Kaidan had already arrived, and was sitting nearby on a rock jutting out of the ankle-deep water, his assault rifle at the ready to provide security if any hostile forces arrived. Both Garrus and Kaidan had, like Ferin, removed their helmets, and sweat was apparent on Kaidan's forehead, though he was doing nothing but sitting. Garrus was panting heavily, probably just from exertion. Due to their naturally metal-rich skin, turians didn't sweat. Ferin wasn't sure how they regulated heat, but whatever the process, it was more efficient than humans did. She looked around for Miranda, who was nowhere to be seen.

"Shadow 0-1, what's your position?"

"Five minutes out, 0-1."

"Copy."

She turned back to see Garrus descend a few more stones and take a break on a small ledge about a quarter of the way up from the bottom, twenty meters above them.

"At least this planet's a comfortable temperature," Garrus said. "Reminds me of Palaven."

"A little too hot for my tastes," Kaidan admitted. "I've gotten used to space, though. Comfortable climate-controlled rooms."

Ferin wasn't paying attention to the conversation as she checked her omni-tool for the map. They were a significant distance from the salarians' last known position - 28 kilometers northwest of the last patrol base. The easiest way she could see involved getting into the river systems that carved through the elevated terrain - they were a couple hundred meters above sea level, along with most of the dry land in the area - but the rivers meant that they'd have to keep climbing and descending if they moved in a straight line. The rivers were like roads, and their armor was waterproofed. They could wade through the systems, though her concern was with possible ambushes and a lack of lines of observation. It'd be too easy for even just a squad of enemy combatants to fix and finish them in the maze of rock and water. She heard the sound of footsteps sloshing through the water and looked up, reaching for her pistol, to see Miranda arriving, breathing hard as she jogged up to her. Sweat beaded her face as well, dripping off her forehead. Her hair was up in a ponytail, keeping it away from her neck and face so that the breeze could cool her as effectively as possible. Ferin wished she'd brought a hair tie too, but she hadn't thought about it as she'd focused on packing for the mission. Miranda dropped her ruck with a splash and straightened, stretching and then crouching down beside Ferin.

"Commander."

"Miranda. We've got a pretty long movement ahead of us."

"Yeah, I figured. I was examining the map while I was running. I think our only realistic option is to use the streams like roads."

"Yeah. I'm worried about ambushes and the like, though. If we get caught in a crossfire from above, we're done."

"We'll lose too much time if we worry about security and cross over the top. Unless we get a vehicle or something, but that defeats the purpose of stealth. Joker says there's geth ships in the area, at the very least."

"Alright. At least we'll have air cover moving through the gullies."

"How long until sundown?"

Ferin flipped the display on her omni-tool and tapped a button, accessing weather and light data. "Looks like we've got...four hours. We can make it to the salarian base in four hours, it's only 28 klicks."

"Yeah, easily. Occupying by force or recon?"

"Recon. We'll set up an overlook position and see what we can see from a few kilometers out, I think. No reason to get in too close when Garrus has a Widowmaker and I'm carrying a Valiant. We can just sit back from five klicks out and see what there is to see."

"Sounds good."

Miranda stretched, then picked up her rucksack and slid it back onto her shoulders with a wince, moving to take up a security position on the far side of the butte. It was another ten minutes before Garrus had his hooves planted in the water. He grimaced as he lifted his heavy Typhoon with his tired arms.

"It's gonna be a bad day," he sighed.

"Need one of us to carry that machine gun for your candy ass?" Ferin asked as she sarcastically raised an eyebrow.

"No, I think my candy ass can carry it just fine," he said. "Besides, if we make contact, how would you be able to keep up with me if I wasn't tired?"

She rolled her eyes, laughing.

"Let's go. Kaidan, you're on point."

They began moving through the gullies between the high cliffs. The movement was mind-numbingly boring, but the terrain around them was as scenic as ever. They encountered little life aside from some odd pods that moved on four long legs and were covered in a shiny black carapace. Kaidan nicknamed them pod crabs, given their appearance and their sideways movement. Regardless, they seemed harmless and non-aggressive, so the team left them alone as they continued moving. Finally, as the sun began to dip below the horizon, they found themselves climbing some lightly sloping natural paths that led up to the top of a rock structure. They'd been scouting for a good location to set up camp for an hour before they'd found the structure. It had a small cave that passed straight through it, providing a shady area that was mostly shielded from the exterior and allowed line of sight on the salarian base and the facility they were trying to investigate - a perfect temporary base. While Miranda began planting mines along the path that they'd used to reach it, Kaidan and Ferin set up ropes to allow them to rappel out the other side if they came under attack, and Garrus unslung his Widowmaker, setting up a small sniper's position near the ropes, facing the salarian base. The stars were visible overhead along with Virmire's two moons as Miranda returned, her mines seeded. Ferin and Kaidan had started a fire and rolled out the team's sleeping bags, using synthetic cords and metal pins to set up makeshift tents over the bags using ponchos. While the fire was visible from the side they'd approached from, Ferin wasn't too concerned; they'd have two of them awake at all times, anyway. Kaidan would be acting as a sentry while she was observing through the sniper rifle, and Miranda would take over for Kaidan when Garrus replaced her. Of concern, however, was the fact that a hurricane was due for the area soon. It was supposed to hit within a day, and would likely hit with an immense amount of force. They'd need to stay high up to avoid the storm waves, and under shelter for the duration of the storm; in fact, the cave they were taking cover in would probably work well, as it was sturdy enough and provided plenty of shelter. She wasn't sure if the cave would act as a funneling mechanism for the winds, though, strengthening them instead of sheltering them. Her best guess was that the structure of the cave would strengthen wind flow through part of the cave, and part of it, behind more rocks and where they'd set up their sleeping bags, would provide shelter. The hurricane would prevent movement for about a week, but would also allow them to observe both the facility and the salarians' last known position effectively for a week, as the storm would mask both their heat signature and prevent patrols from being able to venture out.

Their base established, Ferin looked around in satisfaction. They were well-hidden, well-sheltered, and well-protected. A little concerning to her was that the salarian camp had obviously been attacked, but it appeared that the salarians were still in the vicinity. Garrus saw both salarian corpses and geth bodies, as well as some krogan, on the beach where the salarians had established their base. He also spotted at least one roving geth patrol moving along the beach, apparently looking for salarians - so at least some had probably survived, and they'd have to be nearby, since a lot of supplies and weapons were still in the base. Garrus continued observing as she sat down with Miranda and Kaidan and they had a quick dinner from their rations packs. Their bellies full, Kaidan and her brushed their teeth and took care of other hygiene, then crawled into their sleeping bags and fell asleep rapidly as Garrus and Miranda waited and watched through the night.

When dawn came, Miranda shook Ferin awake. After a moment of confusion, Ferin crawled out of the sleeping bag and pulled her armor on, nodding gratefully as Miranda handed her a canteen cup filled with coffee. She looked around to see Garrus stretching and pulling his armor off as he got ready for sleep, while Kaidan was already dressed and had his toothbrush in hand as he stepped outside. Ferin stretched, picking up her pistol and grabbing her own toothbrush as Miranda and Garrus quickly fell asleep in their sleeping bags. When she stepped outside and traveled the fifty meters down the slope to their hygiene area, she looked out to the ocean to see the approaching storm. It was still sunny where they were, the dawn's light creeping over the horizon from the west and illuminating the clouds in brilliant shades of pink and orange. The ocean was tinged yellow and gold, while the eastern sky was still dark blue and purple, glittering with unfamiliar constellations and stars. Where the storm was, though, there were massive, dark clouds on the horizon, occasionally lit by what had to be lightning. In person, the storm looked a lot more intimidating than it had on the omni-tool map. According to her omni-tool, it was moving fairly slowly, so they'd probably have another day before it was on them. Ideally, they'd be able to fortify their position before it arrived with sandbags or the like, but they didn't have the supplies and so would have to resign themselves to being miserable for a while.

After brushing her teeth and taking care of hygiene, she and Kaidan returned to the small cave and set up their positions. Ferin crouched down beside the sniper rifle and used the scope to scan the area of the beach where the salarians had been. It was empty, devoid of any enemy or friendly forces. She saw a couple of pod crabs drift past, and that was it. She sighed as she settled into a comfortable prone position behind the rifle, making sure her hydration pack was within easy reach without having to move from the rifle.

Time passed slowly. The heat of Virmire left her feeling sleepy and tired, and the sun seemed to inch across the horizon. She let her mind drift across random subjects while she waited and watched. Feros, Noveria, Therum, Ilos. What was Saren up to? What was the Conduit? He thought it'd bring the Reapers back, but she needed to know why. That was the crux of the problem. They all knew what, who, where, and how, but not when or why. Maybe the base would give them answers, she thought as she shifted her scope and observed the base, which was the same as always. A few patrolling geth and krogan, some geth fighters parked, and the occasional foot patrol leaving the compound.

She was proud of the Normandy crew. They'd consolidated into a cohesive unit over the last several months, partially through the missions they'd been on, partially through the interpersonal relationships that had developed, and partially through the training exercises that Ferin had them constantly running. Tali and Liara had especially come into their own, developing rapid reflexes and improving their ability to differentiate between friend, foe, and non-combatant. All of them had learned tactics, weapons, strategy, and basic military skills, like land navigation and first aid, even Ferin. Differences in asari, quarian, krogan, turian, and human physiology meant that what worked for one wouldn't work for another; humans, asari, salarians, and quarians, for example, could have blood loss treated with a tourniquet, but it was useless on a krogan or a turian, due to the depth of the blood vessels in krogan and the metallic exoskeleton on turians. Ferin had normally worked in an exclusively human environment in the past; it was eye-opening to see what could be done working with other species. Even the Normandy itself was an example, a hybrid of turian and human design. And each member of the team had been able to help in their own unique ways; Tali, aside from being a gifted warship engineer, had found multiple ways to enhance shield output without increasing battery drain for their personal sets of armor. Garrus' adjustments to the Normandy's main cannons and the weaponry of the vehicles on board had enhanced their range, accuracy, and penetrating power. And so forth...

She'd come to rely on her squadmates much more than she'd initially thought she would. Though she lacked some leadership skills, Miranda was an absolutely lethal infantrywoman in her own right, but more than that, she had a very keen tactical mind. Better even than Ferin's, and as a result, Ferin had found herself relying on the XO to help draft and critique battle plans. Garrus was eager, level-headed, and a real veteran of combat. He was always reliable and laid-back, though lethal in combat. Tali was the most gifted engineer Ferin had ever met. She wondered if that was the norm among the quarians or if Tali was even special among them, but there was no one she'd ever seen who was more effective with unfamiliar technology or slipping through firewalls and digital security. Kaidan, aside from his biotics and combat skills, provided her with an emotional anchor as well. Liara was an expert on history and the Protheans, both topics that were extremely important in the mission they were on. Wrex was both a juggernaut and a lethal fighter. Ashley was an effective leader and a deadly shot.

Ferin did have her concerns, particularly with some of the emotional stress that was being placed on them - Ashley and Liara, especially - but she had faith in her troops. She wished she could do more for them, but aside from advising them to seek aid from the counselor, she didn't know what else she could do. She was always willing to listen, but she wasn't a trained counselor and she didn't know what to do in their situations. Regardless, she hoped they'd be able to keep their head in the game. She needed everyone at peak performance.

And so her thoughts drifted for hours as she remained in an observation posture. She didn't keep perfectly still - detection at the range they were at and with the cover and tech that they had was impossible - but she remained with her eyes fixed on the area of interest for the entire time.

She suddenly started as she saw movement. The sun was low in the eastern sky, about to fall below the horizon in a couple hours, but she had definitely seen at least one or two salarians. She scanned carefully and caught another flash of movement. The STG operatives had tactical cloaks activated - only a slight disturbance in the air revealed their presence. Ferin groaned as she crawled backwards, her muscles stiff from lying still for so long. She found Garrus and Kaidan talking quietly outside the cave, while Miranda was crawling out of her sleeping bag and starting to get dressed. She quickly got their attention.

"I spotted at least two or three salarians out on the beach. They're using tactical cloaks, and it looked like they were scavenging supplies from their base."

Garrus frowned as he looked out towards the opening. "I wonder where they're hiding. Think we can make contact with them?"

Miranda was already shaking her head. "Anything the salarians could see or hear, the enemy base would too. We're going to need to walk into them."

"Risky. That storm's moving in fast, and there's a lot of enemy in the area," Kaidan noted. Ever the cautious one, he added on, "It'd be better to wait out the storm here and go in later."

"Hurricanes are nothing to trifle with," Miranda agreed," but if we stay away from the coastline and leave after the storm's already hit, we should be fine. And the hurricane provides us with perfect cover to approach unseen. The wind might be extreme, but with our helmets on, we'll be able to see, and aside from that, we'll just get wet."

"I like Miranda's plan," Garrus said. "Risky, but everything we've done has been risky."

"Well, Commander?" Kaidan turned to Ferin. "It's up to you."

She frowned, thinking. She wasn't sure where Saren was - he could already be on his way to Ilos - and time was clearly not their ally. But the risk might mean any time gain wouldn't be worth it. Still, could they afford to be out of the game for a week?

"We're going in. Storm hits in about three hours. Kaidan and I will get some rest. Mira, pull up your mines. Garrus, tear down the base. In six hours, we'll move out."

"Roger."

"Copy that."

* * *

Six hours later, all four of the squad members were wearing combat goggles over their eyes as they started out. The wind was almost immediately overwhelming, nearly blowing them off their feet at first. As they gradually declined into the gullies, they found the wind's strength slackening considerably. The hurricane had cooled the area considerably; Ferin's goggles were already fogging up as they slogged through the waist-high water, her breathing loud in the storm. The storm had churned the water into a frothing, white mess, and the splashing against their chests and faces slowed their movement further. The rain was falling heavily and fast enough that it was affecting their shields, occasionally weakening them when a massive gust of wind carried with it a lot of concentrated raindrops. It was exhausting, forcing their way through the rain and water, but they slowly made their way towards the beach where the salarians had made their previous base. Occasional cracks of lightning lit the area up, but mostly they were moving in darkness; sunrise wasn't far away, but the storm's clouds and the torrential rain meant that even during the day, it'd be pretty damn dark as they continued moving. Several times, they were forced to find elevated patches of rock and rest for some time before continuing, as the raw force of the water beating against them wore their endurance down quickly, and occasionally, rocks or uprooted trees would come flying down from above, forcing them to take cover to avoid being injured by the debris. Still, they made progress, even if it was slow.

It took two hours to cover the five kilometers to reach the camp's location, which had been mostly washed away by the massive waves crashing in from the sea. They stood a few hundred meters back from where the shoreline had been, watching the waves crash into the sandy shore as the rain lashed around them mercilessly. Ferin was soaked with sweat from the exertion of the movement to their destination, but it wasn't nearly cold enough for her to be feeling chilly, even with the storm moving through. She hefted her rifle, looking around, scanning with her omni-tool for thermal signatures, though she knew the storm would probably mask them, if the salarians weren't already using tac cloaks. Miranda and Kaidan were pulling security while Garrus was looking around as well, but neither were able to see much through the pouring rain and wind. Ferin had expected as much. Still, she'd been trained to track and scout in N-School. If it existed, a Shadow, or a Slayer, could track it. She slowly, painstakingly examined the area for any trace of the salarians. It took time, but she was able to slowly lead the group along the last trail the salarians had seemed to use - as experts in stealth, she knew they'd have known better than to use the same path twice. A hint of residual dark energy here, a small piece of diamond chipped from an omni-blade, other tiny hints showed her a path towards the salarian base. The other three slowly trodded along behind her, pulling security and grimacing in the wind and rain as the minutes ticked past, the hours ticked past. The salarian path was long and twisting, often winding back on itself, and occasionally diverging in two directions where one small group had split off to ensure no one was following the patrol or to throw pursuers off. Still, Ferin sensed they were starting to get close as they started to get close to having moved ten kilometers. Her feet were starting to get a little sore - she was setting pace, but she refused to slow down, even though she had to take two or three strides for every one of Garrus or Kaidan's strides. She signaled for a halt as they reached the 12 kilometer mark.

Without a word, Garrus, Miranda, and Kaidan dropped into a kneeling stance, turning outwards to provide 360 degree security as Ferin took a knee and gazed into the distance. She finally turned back, gesturing with her hands. Miranda glanced at her questioningly. Ferin shifted, thinking, ignoring the miserable conditions. On her N7 qualification FTX, they'd been dropped into Phostos, in an area that hadn't stopped raining in thirty thousand years. The location had reached an equilibrium of sorts, that shifted only slightly, meaning that the water level stayed fairly constant despite the fact that the five thousand square kilometer area was constantly being rained on. Life and trees had evolved to compensate - like mangrove trees on earth - to the knee-high water. They'd lived, slept, walked, and fought in those conditions for months, so the misery of rain was something she was well-accustomed to. She had an inkling that Miranda was accustomed to them as well - her N7 qualification had been earned on Pragia, a hot, humid planet covered in swamps, and Garrus had been on Shanxi, which was a fairly varied planet, but did have a lot of swamps and precipitation. Kaidan was probably the least accustomed to those conditions, but he wasn't complaining at all, admirably enough.

Anyway, she'd halted because they were well into an area perfect for a patrol base. The salarians had done an admirable job of hiding their trail - she'd very nearly lost it on multiple occasions, and it had been long and convoluted - but the N7 had managed to stay on course. She had a feeling that they'd found the salarian's new base, though. The salarians would have already seen her - they'd probably already passed a listening post, and the seasoned STG operatives would have been on high alert at this point, though they were probably hoping to avoid a firefight. Three humans and a turian, dressed as commandoes and sporting high tech weapons, were not a foe anyone wanted to engage, regardless of who they were - turians were legendary for their martial prowess, and humans were fast building a reputation for being both extremely effective warriors and tacticians. Ferin motioned for the other three to stay where they were as she holstered her rifle and stood, raising her hands to show that they were empty-handed as she started towards where she suspected the salarian base to be. The area they'd been hiking through was thickly overgrown with vegetation that was currently being drowned, in low-terrain that was flooded to about knee-high right now, thorny and prickly, the area was perfect for a patrol base. Even had a hurricane not been currently raging, it was probably normally submerged under a few inches of saltwater - it was completely unappealing and swampy, where any patrol or platoon would avoid traveling through, as well as difficult to search and easy to mask a presence in. She was willing to bet they were there and watching. Right now was the most dangerous part of their link up, since they weren't sure who they were and the salarian radios were down. But Ferin judged that they'd at least take them prisoner, since the four teammates were Citadel races and the salarians would want intel.

True to her prediction, a salarian emerged from seemingly nowhere within seconds, a Falcon rifle in his hands. A laser was immediately dancing on his chest - Miranda's M4 was leveled on him - but Ferin motioned for her to stand down.

"I'm Commander Shepard, a Council Spectre. The Council sent me to-"

Another salarian emerged out of the brush, brushing past the first and gesturing with his hands. The other salarian lowered his rifle, nodding and stepping back as the second salarian - a commander, probably - returned his gaze to Ferin. He smiled, raising his hands in a gesture of peace as he approached, shouting over the rain.

"I'm Captain Kirrahe. I know who you are, Commander, the Council sent us on your behalf. Is this all the soldiers you brought with you?"

She glanced back at the three people she'd brought with a shrug.

"We've got more men on standby, but we've been here for a while, looking for you guys. What's the word?"

"I'll let you know in a bit. Let's get back to our camp. We've got everyone on high alert ever since we spotted you following us a few kilometers down the trail. Impressive, we didn't think anyone could follow our trail."

"It was well-hidden."

"Well, let's not stand on ceremony. Follow me, please."

The salarian captain backtracked into the brush, moving along trails that were there, but to anyone but an experienced tracker, would have appeared to be the same as any of the other wilderness around them. It only took a few minutes to enter the base itself, after that.

The base was established on four patches of higher ground that rose out of the swamp. The salarians had set up their temporary base in an exceptionally unappealing area, but also a very defensible location. There were only two real avenues of approach into the camp - most of it was too thickly overgrown or covered with trees, thorny bushes, and rocks to move through silently. The camp itself had been somewhat cleared to accommodate the company of salarians, and was mostly clear of brush and thorns, although it still looked wild. They'd set up small tents from 8 foot by 8 foot sheets of waterproof fabrics, which doubled in use as ponchos. Each tent was, to a civilian, oddly-designed - they only rose about two feet off the ground, had irregular shapes, and didn't form inverted Vs like most tents, but looked more like lean-tos , with one end in the ground and the opposite end suspended at the highest point of the tent, the open end against a rock or a tree of some sort. The design was low to the ground in order to break up its silhouette and make it less noticeable. They were set up across the raised areas, with standing water in the center of the camp and breaking up the area. Once they'd entered, they crouched down on one of the raised areas, the captain sitting down and setting his weapon beside him.

"Now then." He spoke courteously, but rapidly. "I'll be straightforward. The situation is bad. We've been tracking Saren since the Spectres were assigned to capture/kill him. We tracked him to Virmire, but he disappeared on that dreadnought of his while we were on the planet. There's orbital defense cannons, which prevented us from following him - he'd activated them after we'd landed. We were blown about a week ago, and our first camp, down in the gullies and forest near the beach was attacked by geth and krogan. We were forced to fall back, but they captured some of my men and they killed some of us, and destroyed our spacecraft as well. We who remained initiated retrograde operations, set up a new camp, and have been scavenging equipment and conducting ambushes and harassment against Saren's geth and krogan since then."

Ferin frowned. "You know what happened to your captured personnel?"

"No. Protocol is to assume KIA. Regardless, we can't leave this facility standing. Saren's using it to create an army of krogan."

"How is that possible? The genophage-"

"We're not sure, exactly. I have some experience with the genophage, and it would not be something easily overcome by Saren. Regardless, he is producing an army of krogan in the facility, for his personal use. We can't allow him that asset."

"Suggestions, then?"

"We managed to retrieve the mass effect core from our destroyed spacecraft. Sergeant Mita's been working to modify the core ever since then and attach it to a power source. It's not pretty, but we have a low-yield nuclear bomb ready to go at any time. It'll destroy the facility and wipe out any equipment or data that the scientists were using."

"Nukes produce a lot of energy. How do we trigger the bomb and escape the blast?"

"Timer. The bomb can't be defused once the timer's begun, as it doesn't rely on a mechanism when the timer hits zero. The timer is measuring the decay of the radioactive isotope we're using as the triggering mechanism, so it's a little less accurate. However, once we've attached the trigger, we're guaranteed thirty plus or minus one minute to escape - the way we jury-rigged the bomb, once the trigger's attached, there's no way to disarm the bomb. We'll need your spacecraft to escape, though."

"You have a plan, Captain?"

"Yes. We've been waiting for Council forces to arrive for some time now before we initiated, as we don't have the manpower or the equipment to successfully destroy the facility ourselves. However, with you here, we stand a chance. I've been refining the plan and reconnoitering the facility for a while now. Here."

Kirrahe stood and walked over to a holographic sand table that was mocked up with the details of the facility and the surrounding terrain. He pointed to the facility.

"Our first step is to disable their planetary defense cannons. If we can neutralize them, your spacecraft can land successfully and we can load the nuke onto your starship. Our next step is to hit the facility. It's heavily fortified, especially here," he said, pointing to the main entrance. He then moved his finger and pointed to the rear of the facility.

"As you can see, however, this part of the facility has fewer fortifications. I can take my platoon and we can assault the main gate, with a few of your shooters. In the meantime, you would take your remaining shooters and flank the facility. While the defenders were drawn away to repel my men, you could infiltrate behind them, search the facility for intel, and then clear a landing zone for your ship to drop the nuke. Once on the deck in the heart of the facility, we would all break contact and rally at a pre-determined pickup position. Then we simply board your vehicle and leave before the nuke detonates."

She frowned thoughtfully. "How do you know that they'll move their defenses away from the flank in order to counter a direct attack?"

"We've been testing their defenses. They don't have a lot of manpower; every three days, shuttles arrive and take the new krogan. They just have a standing garrison of geth and some krogan."

"And the hurricane gives the assault team extra cover, right now. If we execute soon, it'll cripple the geth and krogan's ability to fight effectively and give the assault team more time...although it'll ground air assets for both parties."

"Precisely. We won't need air assets aside from your spacecraft, which the hurricane shouldn't affect too strongly. The enemy's gunships could do serious damage, though, but their choppers will be grounded."

"Comms will be choppy though."

"Yes. For best command and control, I'd suggest you leaving one of your officers or your senior NCO with me. I'll need support anyway."

"Alright. Let me contact the Normandy, then I'll take a further look at these plans."

* * *

"...so that's the situation. Any questions?"

There was silence from the assembled team, squatting in the small camp around the holographic sand table kit. Wrex raised his hand, but didn't wait for her to address him.

"Yeah. I have a pretty fucking good question."

Ferin frowned. Wrex sounded angry.

"If Saren's cured the genophage, why are we destroying the facility? From where I'm standing, he's apparently done more for the krogan than any of you ever have."

"Wrex, it's not a cu-"

"There's more krogan being born in there. They're not dying. You know what it feels like, to know that most of your children are going to die? As babies?"

"Wrex."

"No, you don't. Why should I help you - why should I do anything but fight you - when the stakes are my entire race?"

Miranda interjected. "Wrex, don't be a bloody fool. You know Saren doesn't care about the krogan. For God's sake, he's trying to release the entities that destroyed all life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago! He's just using the krogan as a tool...like the salarians did during the rachni wars."

Wrex growled at the comment about the rachni wars. Ferin kept her voice steady, standing so she could look the sitting krogan in the eye.

"Wrex. You know I've only done what I thought was right. I've helped you when you needed help - that little detour to kill Tonn Actus and get your family armor? And you know that I've only fought against injustice. You have to trust me. Saren isn't trying to help you. He's trying to enslave you."

Wrex was silent for some time. Finally, he just shrugged sullenly. "I'm going to catch some shut-eye."

He stood and lumbered over to where his hooch had been set up, lying down and curling into a protective ball like most krogan did when they slept. Ferin shook her head and turned to the others. Miranda was frowning.

"What's up, Mira?"

"Just wondering who's going to stay with Captain Kirrahe, and who's going to do the fun stuff."

Ferin considered it. "We're going to be working with explosives...you're a demolisher, so I'm going to want you with me. I guess...Ashley."

The woman, who'd been uncharacteristically quiet through the brief thus far, looked up. She looked restless, like she hadn't slept in some time.

"Ma'am?"

"You'll be staying with Captain Kirrahe, along with Wrex, Tali, and Liara."

"Yes, ma'am."

"As for you, Mira...you, Kaidan, and Garrus are coming with me."

"Understood."

"Alright. Mission is to destroy the facility no later than 0600, in order to, as you know, cut off Saren's reinforcements and cripple his ops in this sector. We've got about 18 hours to execute."

The team nodded and shuffled around as she gestured towards the holographic sand table.

"Key tasks are disabling planetary defense cannons, destruction of the facility, recovery of key intelligence, and successful extraction of both elements. We're going to be executing tonight while we can. Take every advantage we can, since we're outgunned by a lot. Our assault element is going to attack here," she gestured, "against the main gate. There's a lot of heavy fortifications and defenses there, so assault will not approach within four hundred meters of the main gate. On execution order, assault will launch tear gas and thermal smoke to mask their positions while they begin engaging with rockets, grenades, and small arms. The Mako will be there to assist with its mass accelerator cannon. Assault will then bunker down and hold off the enemy while infiltration executes. Execution order will come no later than 0100."

She glanced at her infiltration team. "Our job is to infiltrate through here. We'll be moving along the shadow of the cliffs, climbing up through here, and then slipping along these docks to the rear of the facility. We're not sure what the facility looks like inside, but there's an outdoor area here - looks like a water purification or recycling center - that we'll be planting the nuke in no later than 0400. While we're infiltrating, key tasks are sabotage of anything that can help out assault, recovery of any intelligence, and avoiding detection. We'll signal assault team when it's time to exfiltrate. At that point, infiltration will load up on the Normandy while assault bounds back. The Normandy will arrive at this position, grid square TH 550 428, and extract all assault team members. Hit time for that is 0530."

She turned off the sand table kit, turning to face her team again. "Sustainment is unchanged. Callsigns...assault is Tempest. Infiltration is Monsoon. Normandy is Shadow. I'll be with the infiltration team throughout the mission, or else on board the Normandy. Succession of command for assault element is Captain Kirrahe, Lieutenant Wiks, Sergeant Mirak, and then Ash, Wrex, combat ineffective. Succession of command for infiltration element is myself, Mira, Garrus, combat ineffective. Challenge and password is Earth, Sur'Kesh. Running password is Eden. Questions?"

Tali cleared her throat. "How will you deal with geth guards? The instant a single platform is destroyed or sees you, they'll all know exactly where you are and that there's a flanking team."

"We'll just slip around them. We'll improvise. Anything else?"

There was silence. "Alright. Get your gear together, and get ready to move."

* * *

Things had moved rapidly in the last few hours. The salarians had packed up their camp - they weren't coming back to it - and had locked and loaded their weapons. The infiltration team had their omni-tools calibrated to allow them to put up tactical cloaks like the one Ferin had, although the limited time and their non-optimized omni-tools meant that their cloaks were far less effective. They'd suppressed their weapons, lowering the projectile velocity to below the speed of sound, though it also meant their weapons would be very ineffective against modern kinetic shielding. Each shot they fired would have take their opponents by surprise for them to be able to take down guards. Aside from that drawback, though, the weapons were whisper-quiet - the mass accelerator in them had been muffled, and since it was working at a far lower power than normal, only produced a slight hum when it fired. The suppressed weapons were a last resort; Ferin intended to avoid any kind of combat if possible, and to use hand-to-hand or her sword to eliminate guards if they needed to, since she didn't need surprise to make those attacks lethal.

At the moment, however, they were circling the base. Salarian teams had already managed to demo the planetary defense cannons, throwing hot thermite grenades into their mass accelerators. The assault team was just waiting on their go, but they'd run into an unexpected obstacle of land mines. Miranda, the resident expert on explosives, was almost done clearing a path for them, but they'd already lost an hour waiting. It was the last obstacle before they'd come up below the heliport behind the base; after they reached the wall, they just needed to climb about fifty meters, then it was a clear shot to the base. Just then, Miranda turned and gave Ferin a thumbs up. She tapped her visor, then gestured to the ground. Ferin nodded and turned to the rest of the team.

"Check your visors. Waypoints are marked in your HUD."

She turned and crouched, exhaling. She began carefully making her way between the marked waypoints, trying to step in Miranda's path as much as possible. Kaidan and Garrus moved behind her just as carefully, slowly making their way forward. Luckily, there were no guards posted on the docks - a lapse in security, but probably caused by the krogan, a species adapted to extreme drought, not wanting to be in the miserably wet conditions. She wasn't sure why there were no geth, but she wasn't complaining. Finally, they'd all reached the wall. She whispered into her helmet mic to the assault team.

"Tempest, this Monsoon. Sandpoint, I say again, sandpoint."

There was a moment of silence, before Ashley's voice came over the net. "Monsoon, Tempest. We copy, sandpoint. Good luck."

Almost immediately, Ferin could hear gunfire begin from the other side of the base, along with some explosions as they fired mortars, rockets, and grenades at the base gates. She nodded at her team. "Let's go."

Ferin pressed her hands against the walls and activated the climbing tech contained in them. It worked the same way that lizards were able to climb vertically, using intermolecular forces to attach the agent to the wall. Though it was versatile, it was only suited to use for short climbs - it required the person to be in constant motion, as the force wasn't sufficient to hold the person up, but only to reduce their downward acceleration. If the person stopped for more than a few seconds, they'd slide right down the wall or completely detach. This meant you couldn't rest and that climbing became very arduous, which was why for long climbs and mountaineering, ice axes and ropes were still the preferred method. Still, for short climbs, there was no faster way to climb. Beside her, the others attached themselves and they started climbing upwards, making the fifty meter climb in less than two minutes. At the top, Ferin unslung her N-7 Raven, extending the stock and carefully gripping the weapon as she advanced in a low crouch, taking cover behind one of the krogan gunships. The other three soon joined her, crouching beside her as she peeked out, scanning for enemies. A moment later, the VI - a state-of-the-art model, designed for Special Forces - in her visor detected at least three armed individuals at the rear gate. As she watched, a fourth ran up to them - a krogan - and began gesturing urgently. The assault team had the guards worried, she guessed. A second krogan, one of the original trio, gestured violently back. Finally, shaking his head, he grabbed the two geth standing with him and pointed at the newcomer. The three turned and ran off, probably to reinforce the gate. She turned back to the others, holding up one finger. They nodded as Ferin slowly slung her Raven, magnetically attaching it to her armor as she reached up over her back and slowly drew her longsword. With a quick verbal command to the VI she quickly activated her tactical cloak and crept out, staying behind cover as much as possible.

Although she was mostly invisible, there was still some light distortion - a small warping effect - where she was. It made her very hard to see, but if the distortion was noticed, it would be obvious someone was sneaking around in the area. The rain made it more likely she'd be seen as well, as she couldn't hide the raindrops bouncing off of her. As a result, she moved slowly and stayed out of the krogan's line of sight for as long as possible. It took her a few minutes, but she was soon within ten meters of the krogan, when he first noticed the distortion. She had to give the krogan, he was well-trained - he responded instantly to seeing her cloaked figure by beginning to shout for help and raise his weapon.

Beginning.

Ferin waved at the others to join her as she wiped her blade on the now-headless krogan, avoiding the spreading pool of blood. They formed a stack on the wall beside the loading door as Garrus began hacking its systems with his omni-tool. After a moment, he nodded at Ferin. She quickly sent the go signal back; a moment later, she felt Miranda tap her gently on her thigh. The instant she nodded at Garrus, he tapped on his omni-tool and opened the door. Ferin immediately rushed in, turning left and allowing the stack to flow in behind her as they entered the room. The room was empty - no guards were anywhere to be seen, although Ferin saw a table with half-eaten food and some cards strewn on it. It looked like they'd left in a hurry. The assault team was doing its job. With a quick signal, the team continued moving forward through the room, the outside storm's fury somewhat muted now. There weren't too many ways out of the room, and the infiltration team needed to move fast. She made her decision, and the team quickly moved towards a lift at the back of the room.

* * *

Ashley ducked behind cover, wiping mist away from her helmet's visor. The strong winds and vicious, driving rain were wreaking havoc on visibility, but that was what they were meant to do. The air was alive with tracer rounds, though neither side could see if their rounds were coming close to any targets. She quickly reloaded her weapon with a thermal clip, then leaned over the rock she was using for cover and triggered off a few rounds in the direction most of the bullets were. It had been ten minutes since they'd been given the execution order, and they had yet to suffer a casualty. Their luck wouldn't hold, she knew, and it would only take a small advantage for the krogan and geth to be able to start advancing. As she ducked back behind cover, she saw their luck fail as one of the salarian mortar teams went down, an unlucky rocket hitting nearby. One was killed instantly, but the other was less lucky, his arm severed at the elbow and his leg severed at the knee. Ashley immediately rushed out, grabbing the wounded salarian and dragging him backwards behind cover.

"Medic!"

His armor was already adjusting. The STG operatives had state-of-the-art equipment, including onboard medical VIs, like in Ferin's armor. The blood flow from his stumps quickly slowed and then stopped as the armor automatically tourniqueted those limbs, but the salarian was quickly entering shock. Ashley didn't know the first thing about salarian physiology - all the first aid they'd trained on had been for species that were onboard the Normandy - so instead she turned and rushed to the mortar system. They needed the artillery, and every mortar team counted. Alone, she'd operate the weapon more slowly than if she had a partner, but they could still rain hell down. Grimly, the gunnery chief righted the mortar tube and readjusted its angle, dropping a mortar shell into the mass accelerator. She just hoped the distraction was working as planned. Although Shepard could handle herself, as could every member of the infiltration team, they'd be hard-pressed to succeed if they had to fight against more than a few personnel.

* * *

"What the bloody hell is that?"

Miranda raised an eyebrow as she pointed at a massive red display nearby. Ferin shrugged at the Major.

"A VI interface, looks like."

"Doesn't explain why it's so big," Kaidan muttered. "Must be a pretty powerful VI."

"Probably has some useful intel on it," Garrus offered. "I'd say we should check it out."

Miranda nodded. "I'll check it out, Em. Give me a minute."

Ferin nodded. "Lock down the entrances while Mira-"

She was interrupted by a voice, a voice which changed absolutely everything.


End file.
